The Painter in oil

Gerald Dou remains a great painter, an even a broad painter, strange as it may sound,
in spite of his microscopic work. But only because of his breadth of eye. The detail is not
the most important thing with him. It is in the picture, and you can see it when you look
for it. But as you look at the picture it is not peppered all over with pin-points of detail,
until the picture itself cannot be seen. Every detail stays back as it would in nature; loses
itself in the part to which it belong; modestly waits to be sought out; is not seen until it is
looked for. This is broad painting, because the main things are emphasized; and if the
details are painted they are seen in their true relations, and the power of the whole is not
sacrificed to them.
With much or little detail, this is what is to be aimed at. Whether with big brushes or
little ones, the expression of the main idea, of the important, the vital things, — this is
broad painting, and this only.