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The State Hermitage Museum. The Large Italian Skylight Hall
Saint Petersburg, Russia
November, 31, 2005
© 2005 Nataliy Kovarskaya, All Rights Reserved.
The halls, intended for showing large-scale paintings, owe their names to the vaulted ceilings with glass skylight windows. The high vaults of the Large Skylight Hall are embellished with impressive stucco ornaments. The stucco frieze decorates the upper parts of the walls. The furniture on display was also made according to drawings by Leo von Klenze. The room is adorned with items made by 19th-century Russian craftsmen from coloured stones.
The exhibition housed in this room features works by famous Italian artists of the 17th and 18th centuries, such as Luca Giordano, Giuseppe Crespi, Antonio Canale and Francesco Guardi. Of particular note are five large decorative canvases on themes from ancient Roman history by the outstanding 18th-century Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.