The sun., 1918-11-07
How Northern Italy Saved Its Art
Treasures.

AEG8ouICos
With the triumph of Italy and the
reoccupation Of the territory which
had been held for the last year by
the Austrians, there will return to
the northern towns and villages be-
sides the stream Of refugees a col
lection Of priceless art treasures. In
this portion Of Italy TITAN, GINA
and GIOVANNI pA PoRDENoNE were
born, and all left here fine examples
Of their work; at Udlne and Belluno
were important schools Of Renais-
sance art. There was great pride.
even among the peasants, in these
traditions Of the past. and there was
scarcely a mountain town which did
not have In its church or ancient
palace n eacredly guarded work Of
an old master.
When the Austrian invasion began
1t was feared that these treasures
would be either destroyed or carried
away. The Germans attempted to
give the impression that they had
secured much loot In this region when,
the Government recently announced
that 1t had on exhibition In Berlin
"a valuable collection of italian
paintings and sculptures captured by
the armies In their advance into
northern Italy last fall"
This boast, however, amused the
Italians. They knew, better than the
Prusslans themselves, the value Of
what the Teutons had carried away.
The Italians Of each town and vii
lage had such keen appreciation Of
their treasures and such an affec-
Tomato regard for them that they
saved, often ut the peril Of their
lives, everything of real artistic
worth. This work of salvage, in the
face of the panic and terror inspired
by the invasion, was one Of the little
known romantic incidents Of the Ca
poretto disaster.
AS soon as 1t became evident that
the Italian line was wavering the
threatened region was surveyed by a
representative of the Minister of Pub
lie Instruction, and trucks, materials
and men for safeguarding works of
art were placed Mt his disposal by the
army. He was to keep in touch with
the enemy along a front Of 400 miles
and remove objects OF art when 1t
was apparent that a town was to fall.
In the meantime the citizens Of all
threatened towns prepared their art
treasures for transportation. "It Of
ten happened" said DR.. FELIcE FER
RERo, that the trucks would be de-
parting from one side Of town with
their precious burdens just as the
Austrians were entering from the
other side"
At San Vito a painting by PALMA
was rescued, at Vittorio several I'll
tians were saved. and at Oderzo a
masterpiece by PREvTTALI. When the
rescuing party reached Belluno 1t
found the collection In the museum
packed but no trucks. The high
command" says DR.. FERRERo, how
ever, supplied the trucks at once, de-
spite the pressure of the moment"
While the rescuers were carrying off
painting by BELLUNELLo and Me-
molrs in the original manuscript of
PHTRo CALvI from Pieve di Galore,
TIrIAN's birthplace, the Austrians
were already In the village. The
work of rescue extended as far be-
hind the lines as Padua. The Aus
trian airmen caused much damage to
the city by dropping bombs, but not
until there had been removed to a
place of safety the famous painting
by VERoNEsE from the Church of
, Santo Glustina, the altar of DoNA-
TELLo, the great statue of GATTAME-
LATA and the entire collection of the
city's museum. So successfully was
the rescue work carried on that
within a week every art object Of any
great value was safely removed from
the invaded or threatened territory.
The loot Of which the Germans
boosted were the collection In the
Udine Museum, some paintings from
the villages along the Piave and q
triple attributed to TITAN. The ar
ticles taken from Udine were only an
lnconsequential part of the museums
collection; the paintings were the
least valuable Of the Plave villages
treasures, while the genulneness OF
the triptic has never been proved
These articles were left behind be.
cause Of the desire to save others OF
great value. DIR. FERRERo says:
TT Is quite possible that the stolid
and materialistic Prussians of Berlin
were deceived by the very limited and
mediocre collection presented. and 4,
may be that even the ofiicials them.