Education for the youth of the land is still compulsory. The standard of wages among teachers remains very low, and out of proportion to the increased cost of living, but the recipients seem willing to sacrifice comfort for the general good.
Old men, who in their youth taught school, volunteered to return to a labor of love. It was this spirit which made possible the maintenance of education. Italy is a poor country, but her sons and daughters are eager to learn, and, poor as they are, they are willing to make sacrifices rather than give up attending school.
Many of the art students are gone, and some of the schools are closed. Beppo the model is no longer to be found on the steps of the Piazza Espagne, but the love of art has sufficed to keep some of the art schools going, no matter how rigorous the conditions.
Music is in the soul of the Italian, and the conservatories will continue in session as long as there is a pupil left. On the whole, educational conditions are as good as present-day circumstances will permit.
ITALIAN OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH
TAKING DOWN THE HORSES OF ST. MARK'S, VENICE
ITALY UNDER WAR CONDITIONS
Protection of Art Work
FOUR
WHEN Italy entered the war, a commission was immediately appointed by the Government to consider measures for the protection of the country's art treasuries. Under the direction of the curators of galleries and museums, a civil engineer or architect was placed in charge of each principal building in all the art centers of northern Italy. The persons so appointed set about devising individual means adapted to the shielding of walls, towers, statues and pictures from attack by air and water, from shell and fire. In Venice the chief works and structures selected for protection were the Doges' (Dukes') Palace, with its rich arcades, sculptured façade and splendid halls, the superb Church of St. Mark, the medieval Loggetta, or vestibule, on the east side of the Campanile, the Church of St. John and St. Paul, the San Rocco School, the noble equestrian statue known as the Colleoni Monument, and the Academy of Fine Arts, with its canvases by Bellini, Carpaccio, Palma Vecchio, Tintoretto and Titian.