Name of Object:

The Battle of Abukir 1799

Name in original language:

Batallie d'Aboukir 1799

Location:

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (Sharjah)

Holding Institution:

Sharjah Art Museum / Sharjah Museums Department

 About Sharjah Museums Authority, Sharjah

Date of Object:

First published around 1820

Author:

J. Couche; J. F. J. Swebach; Francois Dequevauvillers (Francois Dequevauvillers: 1745-Francois Dequevauvillers: 1807)

Inventory Number:

SM2011-94

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Engraving Watercolour

Dimensions:

Image height 253 mm x length 379 mm, overall size 303 mm x 471 mm

Provenance:

Published around 1820 by Carle Vernet in his Album Campagnes des Francais sous le Consulat et L´Empire

Description:

During the French occupation of Egypt, in fact three battles centered on the area around Abukir (Abu Qir), a town on the Mediterranean northeast of Alexandria. The first, in 1798, was a naval battle in which the French were defeated devastatingly by the British navy under the command of Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson. The second battle – shown here – marked a decisive confrontation between Ottoman troops under the command of Sayyid Mustapha Pasha, shipped to Egypt by the British navy, and the occupying French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte. On the 14th of July 1799, the Ottomans stormed Abukir’s harbor and briefly took control of the city, only to be rebuffed and decisively defeated by the French eleven days later. The scene here appears to mark the moment of surrender. Napoleon Bonaparte, seated on a white horse and surrounded by his officers is supplicated by Ottoman figures, while fighting still goes on and the smoke of battle continues to billow all around. At sea lie the ships of the British navy – unable to intervene. The last battle fought near Abukir in 1801 between the French and British helped to prepare the ground for France’s final expulsion from Egypt.

Citation of this web page:

Ulrike al-Khamis "The Battle of Abukir 1799" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;ua;63;en

Prepared by: Ulrike Al-Khamis

MWNF Working Number: UA 064