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126 The Field of Artcover only the arrondissement of Reims, orabout one-third of the district assigned tohim. He visited one hundred and eightycommunes; of these he found only twentywhich were without monuments of artisticinterest. He counted eight hundred statuesof which he considered two hundred remarkablefrom the standpoint of art, and four orfive hundred of historical interest. Whenit is remembered that in this catalogue thecathedral of Reims, which alone is said tohave contained some two thousand statues,is excluded; that no account is taken ofmany through the Peace Conference will beno easy task.The preparation of the bill is further complicatedby the happy circumstance thatby no means all art in the invaded provinceshas been destroyed. Of the movable objectsundoubtedly a very considerable numberhave survived. In the regions occupiedby the Germans, the pillaging was characteristicallysystematic. Government expertspicked out objects of superior value,which were carried off apparently to regularlyconstituted depots. There will probablyPoilly (Marne).In general it is in the country churches, rather than the great cathedrals,that the loss has been heaviest.paintings and stained-glass; nor of theminor arts; nor of objects in private possession;that the departement of the Marnecontains two other arrondissements, bothnearly as rich as that of Reims; and thatthe German invasion affected in all fourteendepartements, some idea can be formedof the amount of art destroyed in France.Didron was obliged to relinquish the projecthe had formed of compiling a catalogueof the works of art in the arrondissement ofReims. It was too long a task for an individual.The labor was undertaken someyears later by the Academy of Reims. Fourof the best scholars of Champagne devotedthemselves for thirty years to compiling alist of the monuments of the Marne. At theoutbreak of the war their work was lessthan half finished. Obviously the preparationof an itemized bill to present to Gerbeno serious difficulty in obtaining the restitutionof this class of objects; but howlarge it is, or how carefully the works wereprotected, is up to the present unknown.Many other objects were carried off by individualGermans to their homes, or sold.A distinguished collector of Fere-en-Tardenoisreturned to his chateau after the invasion.His paintings were still in position,but in the corner of the frame of each was thevisiting card and address of a German officer.The booty had been divided, when an unexpectedretreat had prevented the paintingsbeing shipped to their intended destination.In many other cases no such deus ex machinaintervened, and priceless treasures disappearedover the Rhine. Serious difficultiesmust be anticipated in such cases, but it ishoped that in at least some instances thestolen objects can be traced and recovered.