In 1756, he served first on the frigate Aquilon, and then on the 80-gun Duc de Bourgogne, and the year after on the 64-gun Saint Michel.

[2] From 1759, Cercy served on the frigates Aragon, Sardaigne and Oiseau, before transferred to the ship Content.

The year after, he painted the action of 17 August 1779 between Junon and Gentille against HMS Ardent, and the Battle of Martinique.

At the Salon de la Correspondance in 1786, he showed landscapes of Malta and Constantinople.

[3] That same year, Louis XVI decided to have depictions of the French naval victories of the War of American Independence made, and he chose Cercy to make them.