Oil on canvas, Villa Albrizzi - Veneto, 1963

Teddy Millington-Drake (1932-1994) was a nomad, linguist, bon viveur, aesthete and master gardener, but above all an artist.

Discharged from service and in part inspired by his sister's anecdotes of her travels abroad, Millington-Drake embarked on a painting tour that took him to Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Syria. He then rented a house, the Villa Albrizzi at Este, Veneto in Italy, and became a more frequent painter, particularly now of abstract murals. He befriended Freya Stark, a writer and traveler who lived nearby, and in Venice he became friends with Daisy Fellowes, Peggy Guggenheim, Barbara Hutton and Elsa Maxwell. In Este, he painted continually and more boldly, turning his hand to abstract murals. He later transformed a neglected Tuscan farmhouse in the village of Poggio which was co-decorated by his friend the designer John Stefanidis. There were vine-hung terraces and a skillfully landscaped garden. A swimming-pool was built on a shelf cut into the hillside, so that you felt yourself gliding towards the horizon, suspended in space as you swam. There Millington-Drake worked passionately at all forms of painting. There are haunting large abstracts inspired by Jung, hard-edged acrylic wave paintings and some intriguing semi-calligraphic works on paper based on phrases taken from the works of poets such as Cavafy, Mandelstam and Elizabeth Bishop. Some of Millington-Drake's art is in public collections, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum. His range of subject matter was as eclectic as his choice of materials.

Dimensions: H 141 cm x W 101 cm x D 2.75 cm