Soldiers Arming Themselves, mid 1630s, Jacob Duck, Dutch, about 1600-1667, 17 x 22 3/8 in. (43.18 x 56.83 cm) (panel)28 x 33 3/8 in. (71.12 x 84.7 cm) (outer frame), Oil on panel, Netherlands, 17th century, On the left, two soldiers caught up in the Thirty Years War are dressing, one lifting a bandolier over his head with several cylinders dangling—powder charges containing gunpowder for his musket. On the right, a soldier tickles the nose of a fellow fighter who has presumably passed out after draining the flask nearby. The tickler isnt aware that his pocket is being picked. Not many Dutch soldiers actually fought in the war, which raged across central Europe from 1618 to 1648, yet paintings of these soldiers became wildly popular.