Painting:Child with doll

What is it about this painting that seems so real? Dating from the early years of the 20th century, the painting is actually a photograph, mounted on canvas, and then overpainted with oil paints. Widely practiced and generally accepted at this time, photgraphy was still viewed as a lesser art--not necessarily something you wanted to hang on your parlor wall. But photographs looked so real! It was a common practice to paint over photographs, and it was common through most of the 20th century, to some degree. Here, a girl posed with her favorite doll in what appears to be a studio setting. The bisque head doll has an idealized, cherubic face, and the little girl looks something like a doll as well.