and the highest in the history of the academy. The surviving
record shows that he gained a “quite good” in Latin, French,
and English, a “good” in map reading, a “very good” in Ger-
man, history, math, and physics, and an “excellent” in geogra-
phy. On May , , his forty-four-year-old company com-
mander at the academy signed this report to Hermann’s proud
father:
I beg to inform Your Excellency that your son
Hermann recently passed the ensign examination
with the grade summa cum laude.
₍₎ After the examination Göring joined his pals on a sightseeing
trip to Italy. He kept a careful diary in a gray quarto-sized note-
book, illustrating it with picture postcards of the art and archi-
tecture. The little group hit Milan on April . Hermann chuck-
led over the way the cathedral clergy cadged for tips, he sought
and found Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” (“it has been well
repaired,” the eighteen-year-old Göring noted, “but it has lost
its original beauty”), and he remarked upon the garrison char-
acter of Milan. As he gazed, on the following day, upon the
city’s other famous works by Rubens, Raphael, Titian, and Bel-
lini, there stirred within him the first signs of appreciation that
would make him, thirty years later, one of the world’s most dis-
cerning collectors. He noted in his diary:
For two hours we went from painting to painting, but
scarcely even began. There were magnificent pictures,
and several sculptures on display as well. At midday
we stood once more before the cathedral, taking in the
magnificent metal portals that we overlooked yester-
day.