The Cardsharps by Caravaggio, 1594
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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
| Crossing over to the other side: Big D offers a feast for your art eyes and ... CultureMap - 2 Sep 2010 at 8:38am You also shouldn't miss Caravaggio's haunting The Cardsharps (1594), which was lost for decades before being rediscovered in 1987 in a private collection. ... |
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