There may be a flirtation in the background.

Yet these people are not hollow as gourds, and they are not caricatured.

The Dutch Little Masters have indulged in numberless characterizations of mundane humanity.

But they are never so preoccupied with the story that it is an anecdote rather than a picture.
It is, first of all, a piece of elegant painting-fabric.

Next it is a scrap of Dutch philosophy or aspiration.
Let Whistler turn over in his grave while we enlist him for the cause of democracy.