as a girl feeding her
parrot, the play of children with the friendly dogs and cats of the
noisy inn, and especially in the importance given to the expressions and
attitudes of the dumb creatures. The dog is nearly always in the
foreground, invariably characterized with the utmost vivacity and
clearness, and usually playing his cheerful part in whatever of lively
occupation his masters are engaged in. In "_Die Lustige Familie_" he
joins his voice to the family concert with an expression of canine
agony.

Frequently the subjects are obviously drawn from the life of his own
family circle and the portraits of his children in these canvases are
always sympathetic and delightful, giving a peculiarly intimate
character to the artist's works in this kind. In "_Das Nikolausfest_" at
Amsterdam the little girl in the foreground--apparently the little
Elisabeth born in 1662, who figures in so many of the later
paintings--is a particularly engaging figure.

These simpler "feasts" and family gatherings in which gay laughter
reigns in place of brawling, constitute a delightful phase of Steen's
art, yet curiously they are seldom as beautiful in their esthetic
qualities as the tavern scenes and incidents of low and vicious life.
The picture in the Louvre, however, "_Das Familien Mahl_," contradicts
this generalization in the sheer loveliness of color, in the light that
streams through the window hung with vines, and in the delicately
discriminated textures of the gowns and furnishings. In this picture the
figure of the woman nursing her child in the background has an amplitude
of line and graciousness of pose that places it on a plane with Millet's
renderings of similar subjects, while the painting in itself is of a
quality never achieved by the poetic Frenchman.

Occasionally we find compositions by Steen in which only two or three
figures are introduced, although as a rule he crowds every inch of his
canvas with human beings and still-life. A very beautiful example of
these compositions is seen in "_Die Musikstunde_" of the National
Gallery, London. The daintiness and innocence of the young girl's
profile, the refinement of the man's face, and the enchanting tones of
the yellow bodice and blue skirt make of this picture a worthy sequel to
"_Die Menagerie_."

Another composition of two figures is "_Das Trinkerpaar_" in the Rijks
Museum at Amsterdam. A woman is drinking from a glass, and a man
standing at one side holds a jug and l