The Three Soldiers

Bruegel is best known for his large landscapes and town views populated by small, lively figures, often contemporary peasants, and illustrating biblical, allegorical, and folkloric subjects. In addition to the Frick example, only three other grisailles by Bruegel are known, all on religious themes. This little panel, once in the collection of Charles I of England, represents a trio of "Landsknechte," the mercenary foot soldiers whose picturesque costumes and swashbuckling airs provided popular images for printmakers in the sixteenth century. Bruegel may have executed the Frick grisaille as a model for such an engraving, although none is known, or simply as a cabinet piece. The attenuated grace of the figures in this painting may reflect currents in contemporary Italian art.