” COME MY FRIENDS, TIS NOT TOO LATE TO SEEK A NEWER WORLD! ”
Nowadays we must become men and women of action like TENNYSON’s ULYSSES.
DOWNTON GAZETTE ONLINE JOURNAL, created by artists who love Downton Abbey, Music, Art, Cinema and Theatre, Literature, publicizes all the moral virtues and teachings of Downton Abbey ‘s Galaxy. It tries to help disabled and unlucky people and supports the artistic activity of FONTANA SHELTER.
“Fontana Shelter” carries on with the artistic activity of the Italian painter Luigi Fontana. Born in Piacenza , the son of a decorator and nephew of a paintress who gave him an artistic education, at first he became a portraitist and his work was marked by a great vitality and rich tempera colours, taste and elegance. After he gave himself entirely over to the landscape. To Fontana, landscape and indeed the whole nature was a keen microcosm of man’s soul. He was particularly impressed by some majestic monuments of Italian cities he visited and which he painted several times (pyrography on wood).Fontana Shelter was recently created in his loving memory in order to publish his collections of prints and photographs and is supported by the cultural blog Downton Gazette (concerning whatever can be referred to Downton Abbey) of which it shares the brave motto :” You can change your life if you want to”( Mr Bates to Gwen, series 1). Fontana ‘s historical period was marked by Spanish flu, a war and economic crisis as ours is ruined by a pandemic and a war. So we must try to build a better and kinder world through art because “Beauty is truth ,truth is Beauty “(J. Keats ).
Probably an artist can be seen as a lonely shepherd wandering in the desert without possibility of success…But this lonely artist will certainly survive and overcome all the difficulties thanks to his honest heart and moral virtues!
SO, IF YOU ARE AN ARTIST, REMEMBER ” NEVER GIVE IN !”
The ten months that have passed have seen very terrible catastrophic events in the world–ups and downs, misfortunes– but can anyone sitting here this afternoon, this October afternoon, not feel deeply thankful for what has happened in the time that has passed and for the very great improvement in the position of our country and of our home?Why, when I was here last time we were quite alone, desperately alone, and we had been so for five or six months. We were poorly armed. We are not so poorly armed today; but then we were very poorly armed. We had the unmeasured menace of the enemy and their air attack still beating upon us, and you yourselves had had experience of this attack; and I expect you are beginning to feel impatient that there has been this long lull with nothing particular turning up!
But we must learn to be equally good at what is short and sharp and what is long and tough. It is generally said that the British are often better at the last. They do not expect to move from crisis to crisis; they do not always expect that each day will bring up some noble chance of war; but when they very slowly make up their minds that the thing has to be done and the job put through and finished, then, even if it takes months – if it takes years – they do it.Another lesson I think we may take, just throwing our minds back to our meeting here ten months ago and now, is that appearances are often very deceptive, and as Kipling well says, we must “…meet with Triumph and Disaster. And treat those two impostors just the same.”
You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination.
Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” ( Prime Minister Winston Churchill ‘s Speech October 29, 1941 )
AND FINALLY LET’S DISCOVER THE MAGNIFICENT ACTIVITIES OF ART UK:
Art UK is the online home for every public art collection in the UK. We are a charity, and our website represents a collaboration between over 3,400 British institutions. Through our work, we make art available for everyone – for enjoyment, learning and researchArt UK is a cultural education charity. We believe in democratising access to art through our digital platform, which is provided for enjoyment, learning and research.
Art UK’s ten core values
Art matters.
It enriches people’s lives
The public should have free online access to the art they own
Income, education, race, disability and gender should not act as barriers to accessing and enjoying this art
Digital is a powerful tool for democratising access to art and related learning opportunities
Audience and collection needs, supported by rigorous evaluation, drive our content offerings
Our content is trustworthy and accessible and is supported by intuitive design and compelling storytelling
Retail can productively co-exist with this content and support museum sector sustainability
Partnership, collaboration and entrepreneurship are a hallmark of the way we operateWe set high standards of governance, management, evaluation and internal communication
We provide our staff with a friendly and stimulating place to work and pay competitive salaries ” ( from Artuk website)
