Stephen May writes of the travelling Maurice Prendergast exhibition featuring the influential American modernist's most dazzling watercolors of Italy.

Prendergast soaked in the Renaissance masters on his first trip to Italy in 1898–1899. Fresh from Paris, where he experienced powerfully-hued Nabi paintings, Prendergast punched up his palette. His second visit to Italy, 1911–12, yielded bustling scenes of Venice's Rialto Bridge with mosaic-like color effects.

The show ends May 9 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A 192-page exhibition catalog includes scholarly essays and is published by Merrill in association with the Williams College Museum of Art and the Terra Foundation for American Art.