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 familial 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 ^ n °ther 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 1896, 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 
