Gentleman's Refuge: A Work by Anthony Foster

Anthony Foster receives an invite from a dear friend, a horse lover (and for this reason a "knight") to re-design, decorate and buy artworks for a "shelter", a villa, starting the job from scratch.

For Anthony Foster, the task provides an opportunity to work in complete freedom, having a dialogue with the linguistic variety of our times, free from any obligation with respect to periods and genres.

The result is a structured space, which is at the same time eccentric and fluid, characterised by a clear atmosphere and a simple formality, classic in terms of symmetry, layout and brightness. The majority of the artworks - statues and amphorae coming from Greece and Ancient Rome, paintings by the Italian and European masters of the XVI century, paintings of modern masters, Persian carpets of great value, and many more - have been traced in Europe and America in the antique market, in private collections and auction houses. However, most of the furniture and many accessories are a testimony of the Made in Italy: a made-to-order production inspired by a solid and notorious artisan tradition, marked by sobriety and formal perfection, by the exceptional quality of materials and creation, which manifests itself in the smallest details, for example in the finishing touches.

The volume, which bears testimony of the outcome of this creative experience, is of great format and quality under every single aspect, and it is positioned at the confluence between a photographic volume and an art catalogue and as far as regards the profiles of the most important works it avails itself of notorious authors, such as Vittorio Sgarbi, Giancarlo Gentilini, Sandro Bellesi etc., coordinated by Marina Carmignani.