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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