Edited by Javier Arnaldo. Introduction by Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. Foreword by Thomas Llorens.

The Baltimore Museum Of Art, The Cincinnati Art Museum, Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, San Francisco Museum Of Art, Seattle Art Museum.

"On June 19, 1864, the United States warship Kearsarge sank the Confederate raider Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, in one of the most celebrated naval engagements of the American Civil War. When Kearsarge later anchored off the French resort town of Boulogne-sur-Mer it was thronged by curious visitors, one of whom was the artist Edouard Manet. Although he did not witness the historic battle, Manet made a painting of it partly as an attempt to regain the respect of his colleagues after having been ridiculed for his works in the 1864 Salon. Manet's picture of the naval engagement and his portrait of the victorious Kearsarge belong to a group of his seascapes of Boulogne whose unorthodox perspective and composition would profoundly influence the course of French painting." "Manet's paintings and watercolors related to the battle are considered in depth alongside numerous prints, photographs, letters, and archival newspaper illustrations that illuminate the history of the episode and in some cases dispel lingering misconceptions. Manet's other Boulogne seascapes are also discussed in terms of their complex chronology and evolution. A final chapter touches on some of the sources for the seascapes - from Old Master paintings to Japanese woodblock prints - and traces the influence of the seascapes on such artists as Gustave Courbet, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Claude Monet."--BOOK JACKET.

One understudied aspect of the life and works of Oscar-Claude Monet (1840-1926) is the artist's engagement with the town of Étretat on the Normandy coast of France during the mid-1880s. Monet traveled there twice for extended painting sojourns and eventually created over eighty works, more than he painted of any other site away from his home. Through these visits, Monet witnessed Étretat's shift from a quiet fishing village in a dramatic natural setting to a tourist destination. In this focused study, Chiyo Ishikawa places Monet's Étretat works within the context of his artistic ambition and frustration at a key moment in his life and career. She also explores the changing relationship between society and landscape in late nineteenth-century France. The book features sixteen paintings by Monet and his contemporaries Gustave Courbet, Camille Corot, and Eugène Boudin, supplemented by photographs and ephemeral material to bring to life Monet's experience in the region. The biographical context, in addition to the immersive visual experience, offers a vivid account of this significant aspect of Monet's artistic progression.

A vividly rendered portrait of both the rise of Impressionism and of Monet, the artist at the center of the movement. It is, above all, a love story of the highest romantic order.