ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



venor, and the New Gallery during the last thirty 

 years of his life, and his delicate views of the blue 

 hills and reedy shores of Bocca d'Arno are familiar to 

 us all. In 1882 he held an exhibition of his works in 

 the Fine Art Society's rooms in Bond Street, which 

 met with remarkable success and aroused admiration 

 in the most unexpected quarters. To name only one 

 instance, William Ernest Henley hailed Costa on this 

 occasion as the direct successor of the French land- 

 scape-painters of 1830, and became from that moment 

 his stoutest champion. In 1904 another exhibition 

 of his paintings was held at the galleries of the Old 

 Water Colour Society in Pall Mall, where a full and re- 

 presentative collection of his art was displayed. At the 

 present time a considerable proportion of the Roman 

 master's finest works are in English hands. One of 

 his largest landscapes, a " Sunrise on the Mountains of 

 Carrara," was presented to the National Gallery by his 

 English friends in 1 896, and now hangs in the Gallery 

 of British Art. His " Bella di Lerici," the figure of a 

 handsome contadina descending a steep hillside, was 

 bought many years ago by the King, then Prince of 

 Wales. Other important examples are in the pos- 

 session of Lord Carlisle, Lord Davey, Mr. Douglas 

 Freshfield, Mr. W. C. Cartwright, Mr. Percy Wynd- 

 ham, Mr. Stopford Brooke, and Mrs. Albert Rutson. 



What, then, is the claim that we make for Costa ? 



274 



