Foot Soldiers
1632
Medium
Pen and brown ink, on ivory laid paper, laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
20 × 31.2 cm (7 7/8 × 12 5/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
84072
Art Historical Context
Adriaen Brouwer’s *Foot Soldiers* (1632) captures the lively, often gritty spirit of everyday life that defined the Flemish artist’s work. Active in both Antwerp and Haar during the early seventeenth century, Brouwer specialized in small-scale genre scenes featuring peasants, soldiers, and tavern-goers. Created amid the turmoil of the Thirty Years’ War, this drawing likely reflects the period’s widespread presence of military figures in civilian spaces, rendered with Brouwer’s characteristic sympathy for ordinary people rather than heroic ideals. Executed in pen and brown ink on ivory laid pa...
About the Artist
Adriaen Brouwer · 1605–1638
Son of a tapestry designer and an embroidress (or perhaps dressmaker). Legend has it that his widowed mother placed him as an apprentice in the studio of Frans Hals in Haarlem. In 1626 Brouwer moved to Amsterdam and was a successful artist. Comment on works: Genre; Religious; Landscapes