two exotic soldiers

thanks wikipaintings.org (PD)

Here's Bashi-Bazouk and his Dog by Jean-Leon Gerome (French, 1824-1904).  Bashi-Bazouk isn't a given name; it's a term for an irregular Ottoman military soldier, a group in Gerome's lifetime given to disorderly and riotous behavior and usually paid only through whatever loot they could pry from a given situation.  Which, of course, means I wonder if that beautiful dog got decent treatment and enough to eat.