Other equally useful methods have been adopted by the Republic for the preservation of the fine models that adorn its churches, in order that they should not run the risk of being sold and carried away. Hence it is that the state, even throughout its most diminutive districts and towns, has been enabled to preserve so many valuable paintings; while, at the same time, it has furnished provision for its youthful artists, best calculated to facilitate their improvement. During several centuries the ancient company of painters, ennobled by the names of distinguished pupils, continued to flourish; but there was still wanting the sort of reputation arising from dignity of situation and establishment, from the number and assiduity of its masters, and from the distribution of rewards. Since the year 1724 it was decreed, and confirmed in 1766, that a magnificent academy should be erected, devoted to the fine arts, "upon the plan," as was further stated, "of the principal institutions in Italy and throughout Europe." And it forms indeed an object gratifying to the mind of the most accomplished foreigners, to behold this seat of art, and to cultivate an acquaintance with its objects and pursuits. These views of the government have been promoted by the private individuals of that most splendid body of nobility, an assembly in which the Abate Filippo Farsetti very liberally distinguished himself, by presenting the institution with a large collection of paintings, and casts taken from the finest antique statues. Their successors have displayed the same kind of spirit, nor do they merely afford students access to the study of these monuments; but their finest productions, in every year, are selected according to the judgment of public professors, and rewarded with all the ceremony and munificence worthy of such an institution.