"The 'Garden of Loves' has been over-cleaned, the sky and statue repainted; for the rest it is luminous and brilliant in pitch, highly wrought, and with the colour scheme and local colours well defined. Technically it continues the blond, fresh method inaugurated in the 'Three Ages of Man.' The blue of the sky is carried throughout the design in the blue wings of the cupids. The brightly coloured draperies on the ground, the baskets decked with jewels, the tiny flowers, the grass and fruit, every portion of the work reveals the highest and most delicate finish, the most tender care. This masterpiece would seem to have established the canon of proportion for all artists who have studied children; it has been copied and imitated by Rubens, Poussin, and il Fiammingo."