Mendes da Costa was born in
Amsterdam to 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 where he made building details and gravestones. Later, Costa enrolled at the newly founded
Quellinusschool where he studied under
Bart van Hove. He was a member of the
Portuguese-Jewish community in the Netherlands. in 1903. He is known for sculpted ornaments on buildings and became a draughtsmanship teacher at the
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten who had many pupils himself, including Eva Cremers, Adrianus Johannes Dresmé, Therese van Hall, Bertha Koster-thoe Schwartzenberg, Jan de Meijer (1878–1950),
Frank de Miranda, Adrianus Remiëns,
Coba Surie, his nephew by marriage Joseph Teixeira de Mattos, and Tjipke Visser. In 1891 he married
Anna Jessurun de Mesquita, the sister of
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita. From 1911–1925 he lived and worked in
Laren, North Holland but then moved back to Amsterdam. In 1932
Helene Kröller-Müller commissioned him to design the impressive statue of her personal friend General
Christiaan de Wet in the
Hoge Veluwe National Park. ==Works==