ITALIAN SCENES
My father loved Italy and learned to speak the language fluently. He won a travelling scholarship which enabled him and my mother Filomena to travel around Italy and further his artistic career.
I hope that I will be able to trace more of his Italian works to add to this page!
Market at Barga by James Selbie
I would like to share this paragraph from a letter a very good Italian friend of my dad's wrote to me recently.
"Jimmie was an artist, and artists never die as long as their work survives them. So he left behind a wealthy legacy for those who are wise enough to apprecitate it. In a way I pity the people who lived only a hundred years ago: if they wanted to appreciate Shakespeare's works on stage, or have an idea what Giotto had left behind they had to be very very keen and cover long long distances to turn up at the right place at the right time. So yes, we can complain that the world has become an impossible place to live in, but at least we can be soothed and relieved that beauty is still around by simply turning on a machine that will reveal all that can be possibly revealed in no time".
Mario Messina
