About Me

My name is Dawid Von Melas, the creator of Defenders of Art.
I’m an Italian writer, painter, and translator. My professional field is foreign languages and cultures, and I work on this site and other projects in my spare time.

I have always been passionate about drawing, since the first years of my life, and as I grew up I also discovered my love for everything that is art: churches, crypts, statues, ancient monuments and artists’ sketches. But also books, music, theatre and much more. The creative nature of artists makes us polyhedric, both in talent and in taste.

But don’t think I’m an intellectual who has never lived in the real world. I’ve worked as a bricklayer, painter, and concrete plant operator, and it’s thanks to those experiences that I know how hard it is to build something.

However, my battle for the protection of works of art is not only driven by love for them, it’s a response to something much broader.
We are witnessing, every day and before our very eyes, the destruction and corruption of all that is good, beautiful, and pure: children, nature, and culture. These things are under constant attack, and it’s our responsibility to defend them.

Fortunately, there are already many people who dedicate themselves to fighting crimes against children, animals, and the environment. If I don’t address those issues here, it’s only because I know that, even though it’s never enough, many others will. That doesn’t mean these causes matter less to me, on the contrary, they are battles I’ve always fought in my own small way, and I will continue to do so for as long as I can. In fact, I will write about these topics in my newsletter, where I can cover multiple subjects in a more personal way without needing to focus on a single theme.

Remember to stand firm in your values: your morals should not be negotiable.