Many are the thrilling ineidents recorded in this book, which
are interspersed with the ordinary daily work of the artist, the subject of the biography. On one occasion Costa was trying to do some "gun running" near the Appian Way, when he was challenged by a Papal sentry. "Costa answered by pointing a pistol at him with one hand, and offering him a napoleon (twenty francs) with the other, inviting the man to choose between the two. The laconic answer came, accompanied by the expressive shrug of the Southerner Da ml il napoleon°. Sono state brigante anch' io.' (' Give me the napoleon. I have been a brigand myself?) A truly charming picture this gives of the Pontifical police." Costa was a man who took his art with great seriousness, and was eager to raise the standard of contemporary painting in Italy. The charm of his personality and the sincerity of his aims gained him influence among artists, not merely in Italy, but in England also. The painter and his followers formed what they called the "Etruscan School," and some of the sayings of its head are recorded. What Costa's place in European art will be remains to be seen. His energy of character and disinterestedness of aim made for the artist a circle of warm friends and admirers, who while under the magnetism of the man were perhaps inclined to exaggerate the importance of the artist.
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