Between 1935 and 1937 Mario Sironi was asked by the rector Agostino Lanzillo to decorate the Great Hall of Ca’ Foscari. He was chosen because he was considered an artist able to convey the faith and the fervor of the Italian Fascist youth of that period. The Italy, Venice and Studies fresco includes a student athlete holding a book and a musquet, the allegory of Technique, the allegory of Medicine, the city of Venice sitting on a throne, the lion of St. Mark and the domes of the basilica. It also shows a figure in chains called Motherland, which represents the victory of Italy in Ethiopia. There is an inscription over the Motherland figure: “Italy will do by itself”; it refers to the autarky pursued by Italy and to its ambition to become an imperial power. The second painting represents the school of philosophers. In the middle there is the thinker surrounded by his students. The painting presents traces of cubism, but there is also the three-dimensional element. The painting recalls Pablo Picasso's and Juan Gris's artistic style and Georges Braque's emphasis on colors.
