That splendid, head, in which everything is said that can be said; color, line, tone, expression; the slightly advanced head, with the soft, almost human eyes, I never enter my studio in the morning without my eye falling upon this creature and wishing it 'Good Morning'.
Notes from Wikiquote
remark about the painting 'Ramskop' of Matthijs Maris, painted c. 1860, which Mesdag bought and hanged in his house for many years