The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama
The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama | |
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Artist | Édouard Manet |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 134 cm × 127 cm (53 in × 50 in) |
Location | Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia |
The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama is an 1864 oil painting by Édouard Manet. The painting commemorates the Battle of Cherbourg of June 19, 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 the USS Kearsarge sink the CSS Alabama. Not having witnessed the battle himself, Manet relied on press descriptions of the battle 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]
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 permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Advance notice
The battle between the Kearsarge and the Alabama received a lot of attention in the French press. Although Manet himself was not present at the battle, he began to paint the event based on newspaper descriptions shortly afterwards. Just 26 days later, he was able to exhibit the work in Alfred Cadart's art gallery on Rue de Richelieu in Paris.[5] At the top of the painting is the Alabama, which is about to sink; beyond, barely visible, the Kearsarge. In the thick clouds of smoke, the loosely painted masts and ropes are partially visible. On the right is probably the Deerhound. In the foreground, a French ship rushes to the aid of sailors who have clung to a piece of wreckage.[6]
Although they are not among his best-known works, Manet painted a large number of sea and harbor views. Until a few years before his death, they were the only landscapes he made. The journey he undertook as a 16-year-old boy to Brazil and many holidays on the coast of the Channel probably play a role in this. Striking in all these seascapes is the high horizon, perhaps inspired by Japanese prints. The foaming sea, painted turquoise, blue, and grey, takes up three quarters of the painting.[7]
See also
- List of paintings by Édouard Manet
- The Kearsarge at Boulogne
- The Battle of the USS "Kearsarge" and the CSS "Alabama", Philadelphia Museum of Art website
- 1864 in art
References
- ^ "Accueil". kerdonis.fr. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Barbey-Boissier, Caroline; Barbey, William (1882). Herborisations au Levant : Égypte, Syrie et Méditerranée / par C. & W. Barbey. Lausanne: G. Bridel. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.12176.
- ^ "Sagan, Françoise, (21 June 1935–24 Sept. 2004), pen-name of Françoise Quoirez; authoress", Who Was Who, Oxford University Press, 2007-12-01, doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u33640, retrieved 2021-02-16
- ^ Wilson-Bareau, Juliet (1989). "L'année impressionniste de Manet : Argenteuil et Venise en 1874". Revue de l'Art. 86 (1): 28–34. doi:10.3406/rvart.1989.347802. ISSN 0035-1326.
- ^ Kimball, Fiske (1954). "Opening of the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection. The "Modern Museum" of the Philadelphia Museum of Art". The Philadelphia Museum Bulletin. 50 (243): 3–15. doi:10.2307/3794892. ISSN 0899-059X. JSTOR 3794892.
- ^ Wilson-Bareau, Juliet (1989). "L'année impressionniste de Manet : Argenteuil et Venise en 1874". Revue de l'Art. 86 (1): 28–34. doi:10.3406/rvart.1989.347802. ISSN 0035-1326.
External links
- Jennifer A. Thompson, "The Battle of the USS 'Kearsarge' and the CSS 'Alabama,'"[permanent dead link] in The John G. Johnson Collection: A History and Selected Works[permanent dead link], a Philadelphia Museum of Art free digital scholarly catalogue.
- Juliet Wilson-Bareau with David C. Degener, Manet and the American Civil War: The Battle of the U.S.S. Kearsarge and the C.S.S. Alabama, Issued in connection with an exhibition held June 3 - August 17, 2003, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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- List of paintings
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- Christ the Gardener (1856–1859)
- The Absinthe Drinker (1859)
- Spanish Cavaliers (1859)
- Portrait of Madame Brunet (1860)
- Portrait of Monsieur and Madame Manet (1860)
- The Spanish Singer (1860)
- Boy Carrying a Sword (1861)
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- The Street Singer (1862)
- Music in the Tuileries (1862)
- The Old Musician (1862)
- Portrait of Victorine Meurent (1862)
- Mademoiselle V. in the Costume of an Espada (1862)
- Little Lange (1862)
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- La Négresse (1863)
- Olympia (1863)
- Young Man Dressed as a Majo (1863)
- The Dead Man (1864))
- The Bullfight (1864–65)
- The Dead Christ with Angels (1864)
- The Kearsarge at Boulogne (1864)
- The Battle of the Kearsarge and the Alabama (1864)
- The Races at Longchamp (1865)
- Jesus Insulted by the Soldiers (1865)
- Bullfight (1865–66)
- Bullfight – Death of the Bull (1865)
- The Matador Saluting (1866)
- The Fifer (1866)
- A Young Lady in 1866 (1866)
- The Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1867)
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- The Reading (1868)
- The Port of Boulogne by Moonlight (1868)
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- The Brioche (1870)
- Repose (1870)
- The Funeral (1870)
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- Tarring a Boat (1873)
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- The Croquet Game (1873)
- Masked Ball at the Opera House (1873)
- Argenteuil (1874)
- Berthe Morisot with a Fan (1874)
- Claude Monet Painting in his Studio (1874)
- Boating (1874)
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- Portrait of Stéphane Mallarmé (1876)
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- Nana (1877)
- Plum Brandy (c. 1877)
- The Rue Mosnier Dressed with Flags (1878)
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- Chez Tortoni (c. 1878–1880)
- Georges Clemenceau (Fort Worth) (1879)
- Georges Clemenceau (Paris) (1879)
- Chez le Père Lathuille (1879)
- Portrait of Marguerite Gauthier-Lathuille (1879)
- In the Conservatory (1879)
- Madame Manet in the Conservatory (1879)
- The Waitress (1879)
- Corner of a Café-Concert (1879)
- The Café-Concert (1879)
- Self-Portrait with Palette (1879)
- A Bundle of Asparagus (1880)
- A Sprig of Asparagus (1880)
- Portrait of Countess Albazzi (1880)
- Portrait of Monsieur Pertuiset the Lion-Hunter (1881)
- Dead Eagle Owl (1881)
- The Rabbit (1881)
- Rochefort's Escape (1881)
- Spring (1881)
- Autumn (1882)
- A Bar at the Folies-Bergère (1882)
- The House at Rueil (1882)
- Flowers in a Crystal Vase (1882)
- White Lilacs in a Glass Vase (1882)
- A Studio at Les Batignolles (1870 painting)
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- The Impressionists (2006 series)