17th Century Pencil Drawing Of A Horseman By Van Der Meulen

17th Century Lead Pencil Drawing of A Horseman by Adam François Van Der Meulen.

This sketch was probably drawn as a project for an oil painting.
The scene is lively and rendered with rapid strokes of lead pencil.
As usual with Van Der Meulen the strokes of the pen are quite powerful and precise depicting the cavalier’s cloth perfectly with exquisite shading.
The Horse’s mane flows, and the movement of torso and legs is perfectly balanced…

Adam François Van Der Meulen was born in 1632 in Brussels and passed away in Paris in 1690.
He was a Baroque painter that had studied under Pieter Snayers a Flemish painter specialized in battle scenes.
In 1666 he was called to Paris by Colbert at the request of Charles Le Brun, the court painter, to fill the post of battle painter to Louis XIV.
His paintings of the campaigns in Flanders done in 1667, so delighted the Sun King that he ordered Van Der Meulen to be present in each of his campaigns..
Van Der Meulen also made cartoons for the Gobelins tapestries depicting Louis the XIV’s military career.
In 1673 he was received at the French Academy of fine arts and passed away in Paris in 1690.

The drawing measures 14 inches high by 11 inches.
The frame measures 21 inches high by 18 inches.

France 17th Century c.Reference number: R-361