The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama

The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama is an 1864 oil painting by Édouard Manet. The painting commemorates the Battle of Cherbourg of 1864, a naval engagement of the American Civil War between the Union cruiser USS Kearsarge and the Confederate raider CSS Alabama. Many spectators were able to see the battle from the coast of France and saw that USS Kearsarge sank CSS Alabama. Not having witnessed the battle himself, Manet relied on press descriptions of the fight to document his work.[1] Within one month of this battle, Manet had already completed this painting and got it on display in the print shop of Alfred Cadart in Paris.[2]

The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama
ArtistÉdouard Manet
Year1864
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions134 cm × 127 cm (53 in × 50 in)
LocationMuseum of Art, Philadelphia

In 1872, Barbey d'Aurevilly stated that the painting was a "magnificent marine painting" and that "the sea ... is more frightening than the battle".[3] It was hung at Alfred Cadart's and was praised by the critic Philippe Burty.[4]

The painting was acquired by the French art collector Marguerite Charpentier in 1878 and is now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

References
  2. Art, Philadelphia Museum of. "Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : The Battle of the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama". www.philamuseum.org. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  3. Barbey d'Aurevilly, "Salon", Le Gaulois, 3 juillet 1872. Extraits: chap. LXIII, p. 334-337 Le Gaulois, 3 juillet 1872 Archived 2012-06-04 at Archive.today
  4. Françoise Cachin, Charles S. Moffett et Juliet Wilson-Bareau, Manet 1832-1883, Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1983, 544 p. (ISBN 2711802302), p. 219.
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