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“ De Hooch only once painted a canvas of any size, and that unfortunately perished in a fire at Rotterdam in 1864, But his small pieces display perfect finish and great dexterity of hand, combined with that power of discrimination which accomplishes detail whilst avoiding rapidity and smoothness. Though he sometimes paints open-air scenes, these are not his favourite subjects. He is most at home in interiors, and his delight is to contrast in one picture the different atmospheres of rooms illuminated by different lights with the radiance of day as seen through doors and windows. ”

“ The sun radiates and glitters joyfully over the whole. Fine in another way is the Mug of Beer in the Amsterdam museum, an interior where a woman is seen coining out of a pantry and giving a measure of beer to a little girl. ”

“ The mother looks into the depths of the cradle with a smile, thus betraying to us the presence of the baby which we cannot see. A Card Party, dated 1658, at Buckingham Palace is a good example of De Hooch’s drawing-room scenes, counterpart as to date and value of a Woman and Child in the National Gallery, and a Smoking Party belonging to Lord Enfield. Other pictures later onward in the master’s career are—the Lady and Child in a Courtyard, of 1665, in the National Gallery, and the Lady receiving a Letter, of 1670, in the Van der Hoop collection at Amsterdam. ”