John Cross, the son of the superintendent of a lace factory at Tiverton, was born in that town in 1819. Soon afterwards his father went to St. Quentin, as superintendent of an English factory, and young Cross was admitted into the School of Design, and there showed so much ability that he was sent to Paris, where he entered the atelier of Picot, a painter of some celebrity in the old classic school. In 1843 Cross sent to the competition for the decoration of the Houses of Parliament, held in Westminster Hall, a cartoon of 'The Assassination of Thomas à Becket,' which, from not fully complying with the terms of the competition, was not successful. His second attempt in 1847, with the oil-painting of 'The Clemency of Cceur-de-Lion,' gained for him the first premium of £300, and was afterwards purchased by the royal commissioners for £1000. In 1850 he first exhibited at the Royal Academy, his subject being 'The Burial of the Young Princes in the Tower.' This was followed by 'Edward the Confessor leaving his Crown to Harold,' in 1851 ; 'The Death of Thomas à Becket,' in 1853; 'Lucy Preston's Petition,' in 1856; and 'The Coronation of William the Conqueror,' in 1859; but none of Cross's later productions equalled his first effort, for they were all deficient alike in drawing, colour, and execution. His death occurred in London in 1861, after which his friends bought his 'Assassination of Thomas à Becket,' and placed it in Canterbury Cathedral.
This article incorporates text from the article "CROSS, John" in Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers by Michael Bryan, edited by Robert Edmund Graves and Sir Walter Armstrong, an 1886–1889 publication now in the public domain.