Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
The Battle of the USS "Kearsarge" and the CSS "Alabama"
Edouard Manet French
Not on view
This dramatic painting captures an important naval victory of the American Civil War fought off the coast of France, near Cherbourg, on June 19, 1864. The sinking Confederate boat, the CSS Alabama, has taken a direct hit to her engines from the Union’s USS Kearsarge, whose raised American flag flies against the clouds of dark smoke billowing from the wreckage. Manet’s sympathy for the Union and his young interest in joining the navy may have inspired this canvas, his first known seascape and first painting of a current event. This picture was initially displayed in the window of Alfred Cadart's print shop in Paris barely a month after the incident took place.
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
