The Walloon city of Binche is located in the Belgian province of Hainaut. Its wall,
prominently visible in the present view, dates from the thirteenth century and is still largely intact today. Another distant view on Binche drawn one day earlier is in the
Print room of the Rijksmuseum.1 A few days earlier, on 31 August, the town had been
captured by the Dutch army. 2
After each military campaign, De Grave returned to The Hague, where he had settled
permanently after his marriage in 1670 to Jenneton de Bisson (1645-?). De Grave also
made paintings and drawings of Italianate gardens and imaginary landscapes, mainly
later in his career, but his fame rests primarily on his topographical drawings.
Notes
1 Inv. no. RP-T-1913-24.
2 J.F. Heijbroek, Met Huygens op reis: Tekeningen en dagboeknotities van Constantijn Huygens jr. (1628-
1697), secretaris van stadhouder-koning Willem III, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 1982, pp. 123-
24.