Formal antechamber where foreign ambassadors and delegations waited to be received by the Full Council, which was delegated by the Senate to deal with foreign affairs. This room was restored after the 1574 fire and so was its decor, with stucco-works and ceiling frescoes, similar to what one finds in the Hall of Four Doors. The central fresco by Veronese shows Venice distributing honors and rewards. The top of the walls is decorated with a fine frieze and other sumptuous fittings, including the fireplace between the windows and the fine doorway leading into the Hall of the Full Council, whose Corinthian columns bear a pediment surmounted by a marble sculpture showing the female figure of Venice resting on a lion and accompanied by allegories of Glory and Concord. Next to the doorways are four canvases that Jacopo Tintoretto painted for the Square Atrium, but which were brought here in 1716 to replace the original leather wall paneling. Each of the mythological scenes depicted is also an allegory of the Republic’s government. The Antechamber contains other famous works, including Paolo Veronese’s The Rape of Europe.
