ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Leighton, who was painting his " Procession of 

 Cimabue " in Rome, first learnt to know and love him. 

 The personality of the Roman master was a singularly 

 attractive one. His fine and thoughtful countenance, 

 clear brown eyes, and strongly marked features are 

 familiar to us from Leighton's portrait, while the 

 childlike simplicity and modesty of his nature, his 

 sincerity and enthusiasm, endeared him to many who, 

 having once known him, remained his friends for life. 

 But the noise of battle soon came to break the calm 

 of these happy days. In 1859 Victor Emanuel raised 

 his standard, and Costa enlisted in the corps of 

 Piedmontese Lancers, known as the Aosta Caval- 

 leggeri, and fought at Solferino and San Martino. 

 After the peace of Villafranca he retired to Florence, 

 and this city remained his home until the final re- 

 union of Italy in 1870. The scenery of Tuscany 

 inspired him with several charming pictures. He 

 painted the ilexes of the Boboli gardens, and the flower- 

 ing elms of Vaga Loggia, and made a dreamlike sketch 

 of " Evening in the Cascine," with boat and woods and 

 river all flooded with the solemn rapture of the sunset. 

 Then, too, he penetrated into the forest of Gombo, 

 and the remote regions at the mouth of the Arno, 

 where he found the subjects of many of his finest 

 works in this district, as yet unknown to the tourist. 

 Three of the most important are now in England : the 

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