ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 
Carrara mountain^, 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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