Bill Kelly can be reached at Billkelly3@gmail.com
Captain John Barry and Lt. Richard Somers are back together again, if only as portraits for sale for the first time in generations, maybe centuries.
Both portarits are being made available from New York art collector and dealer Bruce Gimelson [ http://www.brucegimelson.com/ ] who owns the Barry painting and has the Somers painting on consignment from the owner, who purcahsed it from a Hepburn family member about 30 years ago. It last appeared at an auction in 1938 in New York.
Captain, later Commodore John Barry, has a bridge and city streets named after him, as a hero of the Revolution and the first commissioned flag officer in the United States Navy, while Somers was one of the first Midshipmen (Along with Stephen Decatur, Charles Stewart and Richard Rush) to serve under Barry on the U.S.S. United States. Barry became somewhat of a surragate father to Somers after the death of his father, a Revolutionary War privateer. After being commissioned a Lt. and given command of his own ship, the Enterprise?, Somers sailed to the Mediterranian to fight the Barbary Pirates. Distinguishing himself in combat during the Battle of Tripoli, Somers died in the explosion of the USS Intrepid on September 4, 1804. He is burried near Tripoli harbor.
So for history buffs, there's nothing better than having two original oil painted portraits of true American heroes going on sale together, and for the first time maybe since they were painted over two hundred years ago.
Local historical societies are looking at trying to purchase them and put them on perminant public display.
If they are purchased by a private collector they will once again be relegated to someone's private palor and not available to the general public, students and researchers.
John Barry Kelly is leading one effort to obtain the Barry portrait and have it hung at the John Barry Center in Philadelphia, or the Union League, if someone there is wealthy enough and interested enough to buy it and put on public display
The Lt. Somers portrait is also garnering interest from the Somers Point Histoircal Society, the Somers family and naval historians, and the six figure asking price is achievable, when if it was at auction it wouldn't be feasible.
But its not without controversy.
There is some question as to the actual identity of the portrait labeled Lt. Somers, as it doesn't resemeble a side angle silouette of Somers, which features a more prominent nose.
Some say it resembles a young John Barry, but Bruce Gimelson says that he had the foremost John Barry authority in the world proclaim its not Barry.
It could be a young Somers, before he had his nose dislodged in a fight or battle.
It is certainly labeled "Lt. Somers," and has been, possibly for centuries - and like the Barry portait, would serve nicely as a tourist draw for Somers Point, who are still awaiting the repatriation of their native son Richard from the Shores of Tripoli.
IMPRESSIVE LIFE PORTRAIT OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO COMMODORE JOHN BARRY, THE FATHER OF THE AMERICAN NAVY, BY GILBERT STUART
Gilbert Stuart (USA, 1755 - 1828)
Portrait of Commodore John Barry (1745-1803)
Oil on canvas mounted on board; 29 ¼ x 24 ¼ inches.
Provenance:
Through the family to P. Barry Hayes
His Widow
Her second husband, Doctor Leiper of
Mrs. William Horace Hepburn (Elizabeth Barry Hepburn), a grandniece of the Commodore Macbeth Galleries (Purchased in the Anderson Galleries Elizabeth Barry Hepburn estate sale in 1939 for $30,000
Private Owner
Private Owner
Literature:
*Lawrence Park, GILBERT STUART, An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Works…, Volume I, pp134-135, No.59;
W.B.Meany, Commodore John Barry, 1911 [Reproduced in half-tone as the frontispiece]
William John Bell Clark, Gallant John Barry, ‘The Story of a Naval Hero of Two Wars’,
James Longacre, engraved for National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, New York, 1835, Vol.2, pl.16 (Stauffer 1928)
Rice & Hart, National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, 1854, Volume 2, plate 10.
Fiske, American Revolution, (1896)
Numerous others available upon request.
EXHIBITED:
Commodore John Barry immigrated to the
In 1775 Barry was asked by Congress to outfit the Continental Navy from scratch. This he did ably, and with Robert Morris prominent on the Marine Committee and a major figure in financing the Revolution Barry soon took command of one of Morris’s ships, The Black Prince which became The Alfred in its naval service. He next commanded the famous
In 1794 Commodore John Barry was given Commission Number 1 by Congress signed by President Washington appointing him the senior Captain of the newly established
In 2005, by joint resolution of Congress a law (Public Law 109-142) was passed officially recognizing Commodore John Barry as “first flag officer of the
www.brucegimelson.com under "Paintings":
The Barry painting was purchased from a Hepburn family member about 30 years ago. It last appeared at an auction in 1938 in NY (see web page description)
It is priced at $300,000.00
Same person owned the Barry and Somers portraits
There is no deadline for the sale but I sometimes take pieces off the market if I feel they have been "out there" too long
Both are oil paintings
The Somers is probably by James Peale but that is only an attribution. Sometimes this type of information gets lost in families.
Bruce Gimelson
Paintings-Autographs-
(845) 424-4689
www.brucegimelson.
http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/pages/page.php?id=5882
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