The St. Regis Florence, overlooking the Arno River in a sumptuous 19th Century Florentine palace, is located in the heart of the city. The bar of the hotel, under the arches in the Winter Garden, is the perfect location to relax in a seductive atmosphere, to savour a simple cup of coffee or a cocktail mixed by the expert bartenders.

Inspiration

The decorative background for the bar was painted on canvas in the studio in Florence. The inspiration is the loggia in the Via il Prato Corsini gardens. I primed the canvas with an acrylic/sand undercoat, which could be then painted in lime and casein.

Vanishing points

Pietro Manzo helped with the perspective; in the courtyard the linear drawing was transferred on to the floor and special curved rulers were made, which enabled the drawing of all the vanishing points ( 9 metres away) to be plotted in the more restricted studio space.

Raising the bar

Fiona Corsini painted most of the garden while I worked on the architecture and the colour range. The finished canvas (4.5 x 5 metres) was then rolled up and mounted at the hotel. Unfortunately the bar was raised and the bottom section is now less visible behind the bottles.