From across the sea, new local images

Louis Guy, president of the Norfolk  Historical Society, likes to quote a line given to the comic character Pogo by the artist Walt Kelly, "We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities."

Now, in the midst of the global economic meltdown, just such an opportunity has fallen into his lap.

Around 1815- 20, a French naval officer, Andre-Jules-Francois Martineng, on assignment for the American Navy, sailed up the Elizabeth River and sketched what he saw. The result is a half- dozen precise images of Norfolk and Portsmouth that are jaw-dropping in their depictions of the waterfronts.

Guy recently received a packet of photocopies of the drawings from the Galerie Michel Descours in Lyons, France, asking whether the Historical Society would be interested in buying the originals. At the bottom of the letter is a discreet - but no less jaw-dropping - figure of 75,000 euros. At current rates, that's about $102,000.

The Dutch-inspired drawings "reflect the topographical study and scientific rigor characteristic of the sure and firm hand of a young 39-year-old officer," the accompanying letter says.

Martineng made two sketches in Washington, of the west front of the Capitol and a collage of other buildings, including the White House, and a third of the harbor at St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Six, though, are of the Norfolk-Portsmouth waterfronts.

One of the most intriguing is a sketch of Fort Nelson, the bastion that once guarded Portsmouth. Built in 1776 and destroyed during the Revolutionary War, the fort was redesigned by Benjamin Latrobe and rebuilt, only to be knocked down to make room for the nation's first naval hospital. Apparently no one bothered to sketch the fort. We didn't know what it looked like - until now.

There are drawings of the Norfolk waterfront and Fort Norfolk, which was built almost directly opposite Fort Nelson. Finally, there's a sketch that looks as though the artist is sailing on the Elizabeth, with Fort Norfolk on the left and Fort Nelson on the right. It may be the closest thing we'll ever have to a snapshot of life on the water in that era.

"As far as I can tell, this is brand-new information," Guy says.

He's scratching his head over how to raise money and interest. The Hampton Roads Naval Museum might be the most logical choice, but the society and museum are embarked on an ambitious plan to rebuild the massive powder magazine at Fort Norfolk. The Chrysler Museum of Art runs the Norfolk History Museum at the Willoughby-Baylor House, but the Chrysler's main focus is art, not history.

It's phenomenal that the only known drawings done from Norfolk Harbor during this period reside in a French city. The amazing thing is they've surfaced.

An opportunity, but insurmountable?

"Now that we know these drawings exist," Guy says, "we need to find a way to bring them to Norfolk from France."

Paul Clancy, paulclancy@msn.com, www.paulclancystories.com