GIOVANNI COSTA 



among the friends of liberty, he became a follower of 

 Mazzini. He fought with Garibaldi in the gallant 

 attack on Vascello, and was one of the defenders of 

 Porta San Pancrazio. When the Papal forces tri- 

 umphed, and Rome was no longer a safe place for the 

 young patriot, he took refuge in the forests of Ariccia, 

 and there devoted himself to the study of art. During 

 the next seven years Costa lived on the Roman Cam- 

 pagna, between the Alban hills, the Sabine range and 

 the sea, without once missing a sunrise or a sunset. 

 On these plains, " spiritualised " in Sterling's words, 

 " by endless recollections," the young painter lived 

 in daily communion with Nature. He saw the wide 

 reaches of the Campagna break into vivid green under 

 the touch of spring, and turn crimson with decaying 

 vegetation in the late summer and autumn ; he 

 watched the red glow of the sunset touch the long 

 lines of arches which cross the violet plains, and linger 

 behind the tombs of the Appian Way, and the beauty 

 of those scenes sank deep into his soul. The pictures 

 which he painted at this period show how close was 

 his acquaintance with the country and its inhabitants. 

 We see the peasants threshing and winnowing the 

 grain, the charcoal-burners at work in the forest, the 

 women waiting with their jars at the fountain in the 

 groves of Ariccia, or collecting dead wood under the 



wind-blown pines on the desolate sands of Ardea. 

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