Lola Costa

Carola "Lola" Costa (England, 1903 – Florence, 2004) was an English painter, writer and poet. She was born in England to a Ligurian father and an Anglo-French mother, Marie Antoinette Lesieur, with whom she shared artistic interests. Costa’s works often feature still lifes, everyday scenes, or portraits of family members, neighbors, and rural laborers.

In the early 1920s, Costa left London to live with her mother in France, where her artistic career took off.

Personal life and relationships Costa transferred to the Berlitz Florentine branch and became a private tutor. She began tutoring the Tuscan artist Federigo Angeli, soon becoming his muse, and they married in 1932. Soon after moving into the Villa, she and her husband swiftly became immersed in the Florentine artistic milieu. Their friends included Elisabeth Chaplin, another English expatriate artist living in Florence, the Spanish-born avant-garde painters Antonio and Xavier Bueno, Futurist artist Primo Conti, painter Baccio Maria Bacci, and politician Piero Bargellini.

Painting, however, was not her sole creative outlet. She also wrote prose and poetry, such as I libri sotto il tappeto. Firenze: T. A. F, published in 1993, and a poetry book in 1995, Maverick Carri Armati e Altro. Palermo: Il libro italiano.

Notable works Garden in Paris, 1927, Oil on canvas Portovenere, 1932, Oil on canvas Mercato a Firenze (il Porcellino), 1932, Oil on panel Threshing Wheat, 1933, Tempera on canvas Tulips and Playing Cards, 1937, Oil on canvas Primroses in a Blue Vase and Ball of Yarn, 1938, Oil on cardboard View of Il Palmerino Field, 1940, Oil on cardboard Fruit, 1940, Oil on canvas Matelda, 1940, Oil on canvas Dead Leaves, 1941, Oil on panel The Lemon Keeper, 1942, Oil on canvas Portrait of Ornella, 1948, Oil on canvas Alive and Quivering (Studies of Fish), 1949, Tempera and oil on canvas Les Tamaris at High Tide, 1954, Oil on canvas View of Il Palmerino Field, 1960, Oil on hardboard Still Life with Bird and Peaches, 1972, Oil on cardboard Basket of Pomegranates, 1972, Oil on board Chiari’s Farm House, 1972, Oil on cardboard Vase with Quinces, 1972, Oil on cardboard Lavender and Vases, 1973, Oil on board Artichoke Flowers and Eggs, 1974, Oil on cardboard Quinces and Rolling Pin, 1974, Oil on board Vincenzo, 1974, Oil on cardboard Veronique, 1974, Oil on cardboard Laura while Convalescent, 1977, Oil on cardboard Pomegranates and Orange Pot, 1978, Oil on cardboard Little Statue with Orchids, 1979, Tempera on cardboard The Criminal, 1980, Oil on hardboard Maiano, Before the Storm, 1988, Oil on canvas Viola, 1988, Oil on cardboard, sketch-like portrait