The action at La Hogue in May 1692 formed a crucial scene in the wider context of the Battle of Barfleur, a naval battle of the War of the League of Augsburg, 1689-97, which was fought between an Anglo-Dutch and a French fleet. It was not finally brought to a conclusion until 24 May in the Bay of La Hogue, in the course of which the French flagship ‘Soleil Royal’ as well as the ‘Triomphant’ and the ‘Admirable’ were burned by the English.

In this large oil painting depicting the destruction of the ‘Soleil Royal’ at the Battle of La Hogue, the Dutch artist Adriaen van Diest employed pictorial means such as a theatrical contrast of light and shade and deep spatial recession in order to create a dramatic effect appropriate for an important event in 17th-century Anglo-Dutch history. The spectator is looking at the busy scene from a high vantage point across a dark strip of water in the foreground, which appears to be in the shadow of a bank of clouds. To the right in the middle ground, where the English ships have cornered them, the French ships can be seen burning just off the coastline. The fire is depicted in bright red and orange tones and the smoke, which fills nearly half of the sky, is painted in dark browns contrasting with the light grey and blue hues of the sky and the crisper delineation of the details of the vessels on the left.

Adriaen van Diest (1655-1704) was one of the Dutch artists who followed Charles II’s 1672 invitation to Britain, where he worked as a marine and landscape painter.