86 JAN STEEN SECT. persons are assembled in front of a house. A little girl is crowned for her good behaviour during the past year. Her young companions and the other spectators watch the ceremony with interest. From Smith's description the picture may represent the Whitsuntide festival. Canvas, 31 inches by 37^ inches (about). In "the collection at Middelburg," 1833 (Sm.). 311. The Whitsuntide Flower. Sm. Suppl. 19; W. 275. From the left come two girls, one of whom holds up the other's pinafore like a train. The girl in front has a large paper flower on her head and carries presents. A peasant on the right, leaning on a wooden railing in front of his house door, gives the child a present. His wife stands near, holding a little child on the railing. In the right foreground sits a man filling his pipe. Near him are a jug and a charcoal pot, and on his other side a dog. Behind the girls are three figures, and in the left foreground are two boys looking on ; one of them has a hoop. Panel, 25 inches by 2o| inches (about). Described by Smith and Westrheene as " St. Nicholas's Day." Sale. Dubois, Paris, 1840 (9000 francs). 3110. The Whitsuntide Flower. Signed. Sale. Amsterdam, August 20, 1856, No. 447. 312. The Charming Whitsuntide Flower. W. 479. Children sing before the door of a house to the left, at which a woman sits with her hands in her lap. A little girl comes forward with a crown on her head and long fair hair falling down her back. Two other girls bear her white train. A man leans on the half-door. A little child gives a coin to the singers. It is a spirited and unusual composition, with the light coming from the back, and is very well executed. Signed in the left-hand bottom corner; panel, 13^ inches by ii| inches. Sales. J. P. Wierman, Amsterdam, August 1 8, 1762, No. 47 (31 florins). De la Court, Amsterdam, September 17, 1766, No. 57 (41 florins). Meffre aine, Paris, February 25, 1843, No. 88. De Beurnonville, Paris, May 9, 1881, No. 480 (described as " La Fete-Dieu " ; the child with the flower is taken to be the Virgin). 313. The Singers on Christmas Eve. Very humorous. Sale. Marinus de Jeude, The Hague, April 18, 1735, No. loo (19 florins). 313*. The Singers with the "Star in the East." Sale. Amsterdam, April 15, 1739 (Hoet, i. 584), No. 156 (13 florins). 314. CHILDREN MAKING A CAT DANCE. Sm. 96, and Suppl. 67 ; W. 45. Two children look on. One boy pinches the cat's tail; another holds a pipe in front of it. A girl in a yellow bodice and blue skirt sits on the table, playing a flute. An old man looks down at them through a little window in the wall. In the foreground is a barking
