GIOVANNI COSTA HIS LIFE AND 

 ART: 1904 



" March to the tune of the voice of her, 

 Breathing the balm of her breath, 

 Loving the light of her skies. 

 Blessed is he on whose eyes 

 Dawns but her light as he dies. 

 Blessed are ye that make choice of her 

 Equal to life and to death." A. SWINBURNE. 



COSTA'S name and art are not unknown in this country. 

 He often visited these shores, and, as he always said, 

 found his best patrons in England. Many of our 

 leading painters, George Mason and Burne-Jones, Sir 

 Laurence Alma-Tadema and Mr. Watts were among 

 his friends and admirers. One of them, Lord Leigh- 

 ton, lived on terms of affectionate intimacy with him 

 for nearly half a century. Costa, on his part, ex- 

 erted considerable influence on several English artists. 

 He was one of the first to recognise Mason's talent 

 and had a large share in the development of that 

 master's style. Besides this, he formed a small school 

 of his own in England, and numbered among his 

 pupils the late Matthew Ridley Corbet, A.R.A., Lord 

 Carlisle, Mr. Walter James, and others, whose re- 

 fined and poetic landscapes are often seen in our chief 

 exhibitions. Costa himself was a regular contributor 



to the summer shows at Burlington House, the Gros- 



273 s 



