Rio San Trovaso, Venice

Rio San Trovaso, Venice from 1903 shows Cross bringing Neo-Impressionist method to one of Venice's characteristic smaller canals — quieter than the Grand Canal and less frequented by painters. The Museum Barberini in Potsdam holds this work within its survey of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting. Cross's Venice canals are analytical rather than romantic: he is less interested in the city's picturesque atmosphere than in the specific optical problems posed by colored reflections on water, architectural surfaces under intense light, and the interplay of warm stone and cool sky.

Canal water reflections receive Cross's most inventive pointillist treatment — fragmented touches of building colors, sky colors, and their complements interweave to suggest shimmering depth without clearly delineating what is reflected. The stone architecture above the waterline is handled with larger, more regular touches that convey solidity by contrast.