Background
Costa was born in Amsterdam as the son of the sculptor Moses Mendes da Costa and Esther Teixeira de Mattos, sister of Henri Teixeira de Mattos and aunt of Joseph Teixeira de Mattos. He was taught by his father who kept a stone workshop making building details and gravestones, and later enrolled at the newly founded Quellinusschool where he studied under Baronet van Hove.