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MARINE ART
Tommaso & Antonio De Simone: A Neapolitan Niche in Americana by William P. Dunne s an historian of 19th-century maritime lore and wooden boat naval architecture, I approached the world of fine art with great trepidation. The USF Constellation Foundation in Baltimore, keepers of the hi storic warship, soon to celebrate its 200th birthday, asked my advice relative to the controversy surrounding the chronological and geographic origins of the ship, a debate that has flared with varying degrees of intensity since the mid- l 940s. The present incarnation of Constellation is best illustrated in an oil painting executed by a Neapolitan ship portraitist. My task relative to this work of art was to examine the quality of the artist's rendering of the ship's architectural details to establish their accuracy. The painting is signed "T [illegible, but possibly Tom.] De Simone 1856," a time when Constellation made her first Mediterranean cruise after an extensive conversion from a frigate to a modernized mid-19th-century sailing sloop of war. The saga of De Simone Americana begins much earlier than 1856. It has origins in Tripoli, North Africa, principal harbor and capital of the nation of the
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same name (modem Libya), the oldest foreign power enemy of the United States. Our frrst war with Muammar Qadaffi 's domain lasted from 1801 through 1805. Later, between 1821and1824,afternearly a score of peaceful years, the US naval ship Ontario, which, like Constellation
"The appearance of several De Simone paintings in the marketplace is not an unusual or rare event. They frequently appear for sale ... but the information offered concerning them is often erroneous ... " had been built at Baltimore, served a lengthy Mediterranean patrol, during which time she called at Tripoli. Her skipper was Wolcott Chauncey of Connecticut, but her young fourth lieutenant, New Yorker Charles Heyer Bell, is the focus of our interest. Lieutenant Bell, while in charge of
one of Ontario's boats, had just pulled away from the town's stone quay when an uproarious commotion echoed across the harbor. A young European man raced down to the waterfront and burst out on the quay hotly pursed by an angry Arab throng. Seeing the man's plight, Bell quickly reversed his cutter's course and swept her along the quayside close enough for the fellow to leap to safety and escape his onrushing pursuers. Later, Ontario delivered her passenger home. He proved to be Tommaso De Simone, a native of Naples. Three decades passed before the Neapolitan artist and his American savior met again. By that time Charles Bell had risen to the rank of captain and been given command of the USS Constellation, while Tommaso De Simone had become an established port painter. When Bell brought his ship into the Bay of Naples for an extended courtesy call, he located the artist, and in gratitude for his long ago rescue, Tommaso executed several portraits of Constellation for him. Four of the Bell paintings came onto the American market during 1978. At that time a descendant of another naval SEA HISTORY 68, WINTER 1993-1994