American auxiliary steam yacht Wacouta, ex-Eleanor, 1905, underway on a stormy sea, gouache, 18" by 2S3/s", by Antonio De Simone. held by Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut.
than his son's. His hull shapes have a fullness and flexibility, and his rigging a wealth of detail, that Antonio's simpler and stiffer images lack. The majority of his works that depict a vessel entering, leaving, or at anchor in the Bay of Naples have small rowing bows in the vicinity of the subject ship. These small vessels are often manned by three or four Neapolitan fishermen , with one man in the stem using a casting net. Previous to 1859, Tommaso characteristically signed his paintings with either "Tom." or "Tommaso" preceding his surname, but during that year, with only rare exceptions, he discontinued the use of his Christian name. Thereafter he typically signed his paintings in the lower right comer with "De Simone [year]." When a painting is found without "De Simone," but with the year, the suggestion is that this was originally one of a pair of paintings of the same vessel executed at the same time. The architectural properties of the Baltimore Foundation's Constellation painting have proven so accurate that they can be used as a guide to restoration of the ship. Indeed, Tommaso's skillful execution can be regarded as definitive from a naval architectural point of view, not the least because he devoted a major portion of his work to painting warships. Additionally, from an artistic purview his Constellation painting is a richly executed piece, on par with the standing of a ship that is such an integral part of our national heritage. Antonio De Simone worked in watercolor variants, chiefly but not limited to gouache. He frequently received com-
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enance for one of their creations. No sooner had I begun to read up on the person l believed to be the singular Signor De Simone, than I realized I had stepped into a proverbial "can of worms." In an Antiques article written a quartercentury ago, Jean Meissonnier asserted rather simplistically, "De Simone was active in Naples," giving us one artist in the proper port. To illustrate the man's work, Meissonnier used a painting identified as the French steamship Savoie of Marseilles arriving in the GulfofNaples in 1866, but the date is in error. John Laird of Birkenhead, England, built the shipastheChristobalColonin 1854and missions for two images of the same she sailed under that name until 1876. vessel: one entering, leaving, or riding at She then became Savoie of Marseilles anchor in the Bay of Naples, typically until 1890, when she briefly entered the with Mt. Vesuvius in the background, Italian registry as Savoia of Genoa. The and the other of the same vessel batter- medium is watercolor which, combined ing its way through a stormy sea. It has with the history of the ship's name, and been told that Antonio could produce the quality of the painting, clearly idenboth paintings in a single day, one in the tifies Antonio De Simone as the artist, although Meissonnier does not grace him with a first name. "My search for data on the A review of available reference maDe Simones exposed the terial exposes the source for so much of the confusion surrounding the De problems faced by an art Simones. Denys Brook-Hart in his 1974 dealer attempting to estabdictionary, British 19th Century Marine lish a provenance for one of Painting, strayed from the bounds of his title with the admission: "At the risk of their creations." cheating a little, I feel inclined to mention the names ofL. Roberto, Tomaso di morning, and one after lunch , sipping Simone and the Edouard Adams father espresso at mid-morning and mid-after- and son (non-Britons all)." Concerning noon to keep his adrenalin flowing. Un- De Simone, he added: "Also a prolific like his father, who was fascinated with gouache painter, although a number of warships, Antonio spent much of his time his oils have been seen, was di Simone, painting the international high society (fl.1870-1900). " It is through this attriyachts that visited the Bay of Naples. In bution of both oil and gouache to a De many of his renderings he colors the sea, Simone that Brook-Hart has misled his rather than the sky, a brilliant cerulean readers-it introduces the concept that blue. His 1887 gouache ofrailway baron the De Simones worked in both media, Jay Gould' s Atalanta, which continues when in fact neither one did. Tommaso to hang at Lyndhurst (now a National was an oil painter; Antonio a watercolTrust property), is an outstanding ex- orist. Brook-Hart continued: " This ample of this feature. Antonio.custom- artist's pictures frequently show vessels arily included the name of the subject off Naples or with Mount Vesuvius in vessel in the lower right comer of his the background; the style is accurate and paintings, and occasionally used the two precise, usually with rather blue seas .... digit form of the year with his signature. These paintings could be bought for a My search for data on the De Sim ones song until quite recently but now, like exposed the problems faced by an art everything else, they fetch what is called dealer attempting to establish a prov- ' money."' While the latter comment is SEA HISTORY 68, WINTER 1993-1994