ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Carrara mountains, now in the National Gallery, he 

 rose at four o'clock each morning for several weeks, and 

 walked five or six miles to the same place to watch for 

 the precise moment when the morning mists would 

 clear away and the sun break over the far hills. And 

 so it has been with all his work. Like Corot he used 

 to spend long days in the open air, laying wait for 

 certain effects of light and atmosphere, and returning 

 day by day to the same place in order that his first 

 impressions might be renewed and deepened. There 

 is no sign of haste or impatience in his work. He 

 lingered lovingly over every detail, and often kept his 

 pictures for years in his studio, refining and improv- 

 ing his conceptions and refusing to be content with 

 anything short of perfection. 



Next to Nature, Costa studied the Old Masters 

 who were the glory of Italy in past ages. The Primi- 

 tives of Florence and Siena, of Lombardy and Umbria, 

 were the painters to whom he turned throughout his 

 life with never-failing love and admiration. " Our 

 Italy is beautiful, our race is noble and highly gifted," 

 he wrote in one of his last appeals to the artists of 

 Rome ; " let us love our land and paint her as we see 

 her, let us go to Nature and to the glorious examples 

 of our Old Masters, and our work will be worthy of 

 the name we bear." Here, then, we have Italian 

 landscapes painted by an Italian master, in accordance 



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