John Henry Alphonse DA COSTA

John Henry Alphonse DA COSTA
1866
1931

Da Costa's full name was John Henry Alphonse Frederick Francis Da Costa.  He was born at Teignmouth, Devon (28 December 1866 GRO), and listed as a Newlyn resident in the 1891 Census as living at Cliff Castle Cottage in Belle Vue (1896), the address from which he sent-in to the RA and Manchester. This was the house of Henry and Elizabeth Maddern, where many artists lodged before.

With him in 1891 are recorded Mary Josephine Da Costa, a widow (possibly mother) from Metz, Germany, and Oscar M J Da Costa of the 21st Hussars from St Helier, Jersey. John is listed as a Fine Arts Student from Teignmouth, Devon. He exhibited with the Cornish painters at Dowdeswells in 1890, with Beg, Sir and with A Pastoral at Nottingham Castle in 1894. His sales record at NAG is sparse, showing the sale of only one work, A Study.  [All of these catalogues are reprinted in Hardie (2009).]

By 1897 Da Costa is mentioned by Norman GARSTIN in his article in the Studio 'as being no longer among us' and bemoaning the fact. From Newlyn he moved to London, later to Oxfordshire, and then to various addresses in Kensington and Chelsea.  By 1904 he was running his own art school classes in Kensington, London (Studio), with the help of his Newlyn friend Phil Whiting.  The artist died in London on 26 May, 1931, age 64 (GRO).

media

Painter

works and access

Works include: Beg, Sir (1890); Portrait of Washington Duke; Portrait of Marjorie Armstrong [repr in Hardie (2009), p170 b/w] located at Penlee House; A Study; A Pastoral (1894)

Access: Penlee House

exhibitions

 RA; L; GI; I

Dowdeswells 1890; 

Nottingham Castle 1894

NAG Opening 1895

Leighton House, London Retrospective 1974 (full bibl p12)

memberships

ROI; NSA

misc further info

 

references

Bednar

Hardie (1995) 100 Years in Newlyn: Diary of a Gallery

Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall

Johnson & Greutzner (extensive exhibiting record) (1975) Dictionary of British Artists

Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly: Oil Paintings in Public Ownership

The Studio Vol IV: 84; 

The Studio Vol VI, No 34 Jan 1897

Wood (1995) Victorian Painters

The Year's Art

Image Library for Artists discussed in The New Age at http://modjourn.org/bio_browse.php