The artist was born in Palermo but seems to have moved at an early age to Naples, where he spent several years incarcerated in the Vicaria prison, and seems to have been responsible for the training of the younger Leonardo Coccorante (1680-1750), who probably lived nearby. On his release, Costa seems to have worked for a short period in Rome before settling in Milan. His few known works are all view paintings or capricci and range in date between 1696 and 1721 (the present painting).

The present picture is regarded by Professor Spinosa as a replica of a smaller (62 x 109cm.) painting in the Museo Brukenthal at Sibiu in Romania, which has a pendant showing Naples and Vesuvius from the Castel dell'Ovo (N. Spinosa, La pittura napoletana del '600, 1984, pls.192-3; Spinosa and Di Mauro, op. cit., p.188, no.22, and p.221, figs.19-20). A small version of the latter was with Rafael Valls in 1981 (Spinosa, op. cit., 1986, p.173, no.339, and p.405; fig.414; Spinosa and Di Mauro, op. cit., p.188, no.23, and p.219, fig.17)