Jan Karel Donatus van Beecq

Jan Karel Donatus van Beecq (1638 – April 1722) was a Dutch marine painter, active in England and later in France, where he became a member of the Academy in 1681.

[4] Most of his pictures of 1677–9 are of English subjects, and the art historian Gary Schwartz has proposed that should be identified with the "Vanbeck" recorded as being admitted to the Painter-Stainers Company in the City of London in 1677.

He benefited from the support of Charles Lebrun, the Académie's patron and founder, who persuaded it, contrary to its usual practice, to pay the artist the full amount of his entry emolument at once, for "important reasons" which are not recorded.

[3] By 1685, there were four paintings by van Beecq in place at Louis XIV's new palace at Marly, the decoration of which was organised by Le Brun and Jules Hardouin Mansart.

Surviving correspondence shows that drawings by eyewitnesses of the bombardment were gathered by government officials as source material to supply to van Beecq, to ensure the accuracy of his representation.