The Cardsharps by Caravaggio, 1594
Bellori mentions a praiseworthy painting in the possession of Cardinal Antonio Barberini. it represents three half-figures of men playing cards. Here Michele represented a simple youth holding cards and dressed in a dark suit, whose head is well drawn from life.
Opposite him in profile, a fraudulent youth, who leans with one hand on the gaming table and with the other held behind him, takes a false card from his belt. A third figure near the boy looks at the marks on the cards and with three fingers reveals them to his companion.
The companion leans on the table exposing his shoulder to the light; he wears a yellow jacket striped with bands. There is nothing false in the coloring of this work. These are the first strokes from Michele's brush in the clear manner of Giorgione, with tempered shadows.... The Card Game was bought by Cardinal del Monte."
Scanelli writes: "In the collection of Cardinal Antonio Barberini is a painting by Caravaggio of card players, a subject (inventions) so well suited to Caravaggio's genius that the work is of rare beauty." A painting corresponding to Bellori's description was in the Sciarra Gallery in Rome until 1899. It probably came there from the Barberini Collection where it had been from at least the mid-seventeenth century.
Other paintings/pictures tagged "Caravaggios Boys"
"Concert of Youths" (1595) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
"Boy Bitten by a Lizard" (1594-1596) National Gallery, London |
"Boy Peeling a Pear" (1592-1593) Longhi Collection, Rome |
Recent News Articles related to Caravaggio,The Cardsharps
| Celebrating Caravaggio: First Of The Bad-Boy Artists NPR - 21 Feb 2010 at 7:12am Exhibition visitors are plunged into near total darkness — only the canvasses are lighted: Lute Player, Cardsharps, Judith and Holofernes, the Conversion of ... |
Pictures from Flickr tagged Caravaggio,The Cardsharps
Popular Works by Caravaggio
Bacchino Malato (1593) • Concert of Youths (1595) • St Catherine of Alexandria (1598) • Boy Bitten by a Lizard (1594-1596) • Penitent Magdalene (1597) • Bacchus (1596) • Boy Peeling a Pear (1592-1593) • The Cardsharps (1594) • St. Francis in Ecstasy (~1600) • Rest on Flight to Egypt (1596-1597) • Martha and Mary Magdalene (1598)
Caravaggio Maturity period paintings
Saint Jerome Writing (1605-1606) • St. John The Baptist (1602) • The Crowning with Thorns (1602-1603) • The Entombment (1602-1603) • St. Jerome in Meditation (1605) • Ecce Homo (1606) • St. John the Baptist (1595) • Saint Francis (1606) • St. Francis (1606) • The Crowning with Thorns (1595) • Madonna with the Serpent (1606) • Madonna di Loreto (1603-1605)
Caravaggio Early maturity paintings
Narcissus (1597-1599) • Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598-1599) • Amor Victorious (1601-1602) • David with the Head of Goliath 3 (1609-1610) • Taking of the Christ (1602) • St. John the Baptist in the Wilderness 1 (1607) • The Sacrifice of Isaac (1601-1602) • Portrait of Maffeo Barberini (1599) • Supper at Emmaus (1606)
Caravaggio Later paintings (the Maltese period)
Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt (1608) • Beheading of John the Baptist (1608) • St Jerome (1607) • Sleeping Cupid (1608) • Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt 2 (1607-1608) • Christ at the Column (1607) • The Seven Acts of Mercy (1607) • Flagellation of Christ (1607) • Madonna del Rosario (1607) • Raising of Lazarus (1609) • Burial of St Lucy (1608)
Caravaggio Cerasi Chapel Paintings
The Conversion of St. Paul (1601) • The Conversion of St. Paul (1600)
Caravaggio Latest paintings
Salome with the Head of the Baptist (1609) • The Denial of St Peter (1610) • Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence (1609) • David with the Head of Goliath 2 (1606-1607) • The Annunciation (1608-1609) • Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (1607)
Caravaggio Contarelli Chapel Paintings
Martyrdom of St. Matthew (1599-1600) • The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602)