Dawn – Study of the Awakening of Nature. c.1883. Oil on wood; 97/8 x 32 inches (25 x 81 cm). Collection of William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, catalogue no. Br072.
This work painted in the early morning, Costa’s favourite time of day, shows his debt not only to the Old Masters but also to late nineteenth-century Symbolist painting. A male figure with pointed ears, likely a faun from Roman Mythology, represents Nature seen awakening from slumber in a misty dawn. Fauns were thought to represent the spirits of rustic places. He is shown reclining in a barren landscape with one of the mountain ranges bordering the Roman Campagna in the background. W. B. Richmond has commented on Costa’s art: “It was never pretty, always beautiful, sometimes austere” (Stirling 207) and certainly this description would apply to this particular work.
Cartwright has explained why Costa’s art should interest students of landscape art: “It has the rare quality of distinction, without a trace of formalism or artificiality. It reveals profound learning, and an exquisite obedience to the leading principles of composition. It is always marked by the truest, refinement, and often by a touch of irresistible poetry. Then it is utterly unlike the art of his compatriots and contemporaries...Professor Costa, on the contrary, loves Nature for her own sake, and studies her every aspect with unwavering affection. He refrains from all the startling and discordant, and while he knows how to blend the brightest hues in a perfect harmony, he habitually inclines to the use of subdued tints and a sober richness of color” (24).
Bibliography
Stirling, A.M.W.: The Richmond Papers. London: William Heinemann, 1926.
Cartwright, Julia. “Giovanni Costa. Patriot and Painter.” The Magazine of Art VI (1883): 24-31.
Last modified 17 December 2022