This has been attributed to Van der Meulen, but there is a similar picture at Versailles by Charles le Brun of which this is perhaps a replica.
71 Frederick the Great (555). . . . . Antoine Pesne.
Full-length, standing, turned to the left, but facing round to the front. His left hand points to a battle in the distance; his right holds a marshal’s truncheon. He is in armour, over which is a crimson ermine-lined mantle; he has a small close-curled wig; his helmet is on the ground in front of him. On canvas, 8 ft. 7 in. high, by 5 ft. 7 in. wide.
“To this admirable painter (i.e. Pesne) I am inclined to attribute the portrait of Frederick the Great. The king, who is still in youthful years, is pointing to a battlefield in the background, probably in allusion to the Silesian war. A picture of considerable merit.”—Waagen. The painter is well remembered by the following couplet by Frederick the Great:—
“Quel spectacle étonnant vient de frapper mes yeux,
Cher Pesne, ton pinceau t’égale au rang des Dieux,”
which Voltaire interpreted thus:—“Le roi ne regardant jamais le peintre, ce dernier était pour lui invisible comme Dieu.”
Pesne, who was a Frenchman and studied in Paris, was in England in 1724. He afterwards went to Berlin, where he became court painter to Frederick the Great. He died in 1757, the year of the Battle of Prague.
The frame is doubtless a presentation one.
72 Frederick the Great (978). . . . . unnamed.