A residential dwelling in the Castilian city of Segovia is home to a little-studied cycle of grisaille murals that contrast glorious heroes from classical antiquity to contemporary paupers and vagrants. These late sixteenth-century paintings stem in large part from Netherlandish prints (or paintings based on prints) and among their surprising sources are engravings after Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The pictorial programme appears incongruous at first sight but is argued to follow a binary logic of ethical oppositions. The murals, in essence, cultivate a moral code of self-control, temperance and fortitude. This unusual case sheds new light on how Bruegel’s prints were adapted and understood beyond the confines of the Low Countries. It also offers a unique glimpse into the original display and viewing conditions of his imagery in a domestic space of the sixteenth century.