John da Costa

1867-1931, British

An Englishman from Devonshire, he studied in Paris and exhibited at the Paris Salon.  When he returned to England he joined the “Newlyn School” in the Cornish fishing village of that name.  He did much painting in Scotland, especially in the summers.  He also painted in the United States and did a portrait of the Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon, Cornelia, daughter of George W. Vanderbilt, as well as the daughters of other notable Americans – Egerton Winthrop, Herman Lountze and Mrs. J. Borden Harriman, according to a Town & Country article in June of 1918.  His portrait of Doris Duke at age 12, only child of Mr. and Mrs. James B. Duke, was pictured in the New York Times in the Sunday, December 21, 1924 edition.