Quotation by M. E. W. Sherwood

... Amsterdam, with the river Amstel helping to give a lively current to its canals, with its patchwork of water streets, its long double rows of trees which seem endless, its palaces, its magnificent houses with machicolated roofs, and, above all, the quaint craft, the old Dutch galleons, with their shadowy sails, their fine brown color, their queer round outlines, their unending picturesqueness, is a paradise for the painter.... Even the family washing, which the boatman's wife hangs out, with an occasional red shirt, helps the picture. It is a dream of color and tender tones.