'Three Soldiers' (c. 1568) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator Xavier F. Salomon discusses “The Three Soldiers” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, one of only a few works by the artist outside Europe. Bruegel is best known for his lively and often comical peasant scenes, but here he takes as his subject three landsknechts, or German mercenary foot soldiers. Currently on view on the second floor of Frick Madison, this grisaille painting shows a drummer, a standard-bearer, and a fifer outfitted in flamboyant costume (and presumably urging their fellow soldiers into battle).