A French Perspective: Édouard Manet’s Depiction of the Battle of Cherbourg
Julia Wagers
2026 Holly B. Wait Fellow
France is rarely the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the American Civil War. However, one of the most famous naval battles of the war was fought off the coast of France. On June 19, 1864, the commerce raider CSS Alabama met the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Cherbourg, France. The CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war, commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, and was the most infamous Confederate commerce raider during the Civil War. A commerce raider’s main goal was to disrupt Union shipping and trade to direct attention away from blockades and other fronts, as well as affect the economy and shipping insurance prices. The Alabama captured at least sixty-five Union merchant vessels and caused damages worth millions of dollars over the course of two years from 1862 to 1864. The USS Kearsarge was a steam sloop-of-war, commanded by Captain John A. Winslow, and spent most of the war hunting Confederate commerce raiders. During the battle, the Kearsarge sank and destroyed the Alabama.
The battle gained widespread media attention not only in the United States but also in France. The renowned French artist Édouard Manet became just one of many inspired by the media coverage of the battle. Manet is most well-known for his paintings, Olympia and Luncheon on the Grass, both painted in 1863. He was a key figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism, employing artistic choices reminiscent of both artistic movements. Scenes of modern, everyday middle-class life in Paris were the main subjects in his works, rendered in loose, painterly brushstrokes. At the time of the battle, Manet’s submissions to the 1864 Salon, the most prestigious art show in Paris, were highly criticized in the press for perspective inaccuracies in Incident at a Bullfight, and the realistic depiction of Christ’s body in The Dead Christ with Angels. The year prior, his painting Luncheon on the Grass was subject to criticism and concerns of modern debauchery after being exhibited in the Salon des Refusés, an exhibition of all the works rejected from the traditional Salon that year. By June of 1864, Manet was a laughingstock to the academic art world and critics.
Édouard Manet, The Battle of the "Kearsarge" and the "Alabama", Oil on Canvas, 1864, Philadelphia Museum of Art.
All of these factors may have influenced Manet’s choice to paint The Battle of the "Kearsarge" and the "Alabama,” his first known seascape. Painting a piece depicting a sensational news story was more likely to garner public approval and praise compared to his other preferred subjects. The painting was finished within twenty-six days of the battle and was promptly put on display on July 16th, 1864, in the front window of Alfred Cadart's print shop and art gallery in Paris. The piece gives a French perspective on the battle and reflects Manet’s own ideas on the war. Manet was an upper-middle-class republican and staunchly anti-Bonapartist. He did not support Napoleon III or the idea of the Second French Empire. Due to his political knowledge, he would have been aware of Napoleon III’s Confederate sympathies despite France not officially taking sides during the war. This, combined with Manet’s own dislike of slavery, after seeing slavery in Rio as a teenager, led him to be a supporter of the Union cause.
There is no evidence that Manet visited Cherbourg or witnessed the battle himself. He likely based his painting on various etchings published in newspapers. Compared to those inspirational etchings, Manet’s painting has significantly more movement. Instead of depicting a calm ocean with the ships nearly horizontal to each other, Manet chooses a more dramatic approach. The sea is dark and choppy with a grey sky, cloudy from the smoke of the Alabama and Kearsarge. Composition-wise, the horizon line is unusually high, and the point of view situates the viewer over the scene. The French ship in the foreground rushes towards the battle, as does the British ship Deerhound, which rescued Captain Semmes after the battle. These converging ships draw the viewer’s eye up to the battling Alabama and Kearsarge. All of these choices create a sense of urgency and anxiety for the viewer. Additionally, the small French vessel, located in the foreground, would have allowed a contemporary French viewer to insert themself into the scene, watching the grim spectacle unfold.
Édouard Manet’s The Battle of the "Kearsarge" and the "Alabama” is an example of the American Civil War’s global impacts from a French perspective. Opinions on the war and the Confederacy were split throughout France, and the war affected trade with the country as well as the global economy in general. Those in France who supported the Confederacy tended to do so because of trade and economic reasons, while critics of Southern secession foregrounded the immorality of slavery. The sensational media coverage of the battle between the CSS Alabama and the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Cherbourg, France, reflects the French people’s interest in the conflict and serves as a reminder that the war was not just contained to the United States.