The Cardsharps
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian, 1571-1610
c.1594-95, Oil on canvas
Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

About the Artist

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, usually referred to as Caravaggio after his birthplace near Milan, is one of the most important artists in the history of Western art. From his early teens into his twenties he was trained in Milan as an apprentice in the studio of a painter. He went to Rome in the early 1590s to enter the studio of a prominent painter. He lived a brief and dramatic life, and his work was sometimes shocking to the people of his time.

Caravaggio was considered a rebel against convention, both in his art and in his behavior. In 1606 he had to leave Rome after killing a man over a wager on a tennis match. Even though his life was short, his painting style had enormous impact on artists throughout Europe. Caravaggio produced many religious paintings that shocked his patrons because of his depiction of Christ and other religious figures as common people in everyday settings. He spent the last four years of his life wandering from city to city in Italy and died at the age of 39 from malaria.

About the Art

The Cardsharps is a genre painting--a painting showing an everyday activity of ordinary people; it is considered one of Caravaggio's early masterpieces. It was sold to an influential man, Cardinal Francesco Maria del Monte, who gave Caravaggio protection in his palace and introduced him to other important people in Rome.

In the painting we see two young men playing a card game. One of the players is studying the cards in his hand while a man looks over his shoulder and signals the other player across the table. The cheat is reaching behind his back in order to retrieve a card that will enable him to win the game. The young man on the left appears to be innocent and completely unaware of how he is being tricked by the other two figures. The gestures and facial expressions give viewers an understanding of the deception and loss of innocence about to occur.

Additional Information

Caravaggio is one of the most important artists who lived during the period referred to as Baroque. The word baroque (bar-oak') was originally a Portugese word meaning irregular, contorted, or grotesque, and was used in a derogatory way to describe the art of the seventeenth century. Today we use the term to refer to the art and architecture produced in Europe from about 1600 to 1700. The ability to arouse emotion in the viewer, often through dramatic means, is characteristic of Baroque art. The suggestion of movement, contrasts of light and dark, and communication of feeling through gesture and facial expression were typical during this period. Works tended to be highly naturalistic, although they often contained symbolic or moralizing meanings. Artists were highly skilled at drawing and painting and could present the human figure from every possible angle. The lighting in some Baroque paintings appears to come from spotlights shining on the action taking place in the painting while other areas seem to disappear into the unlit shadows. The artists employed such contrasts of light and dark for greater truth-to-life, and also to express such ideas as good and evil, life and death.

About the Time and Place

Many important changes were taking place in the world during the lifetime of Caravaggio. Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, and England colonized many parts of the world. These countries gained much wealth because of their acquired territories and a new middle class of well-to-do merchants, bankers, and tradespeople began to develop. Science and mathematics progressed with the work of men like Galileo and Isaac Newton. The religious conflicts that had existed between the Catholic and Protestant churches were quieting, and Rome again became the art center of Europe. Artists and visitors went there to see both ancient works and the great works that had been produced during the Renaissance.

In Italy, the Catholic church was a major patron of the arts and many of the churches contained the new style of painting that was filled with light and movement. In northern European countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland, fewer altarpieces were commissioned because of the influence of the Protestant church and its preference for simpler interiors. However, in those countries the new middle class became patrons of art and commissioned paintings for their homes and public buildings.

An important artist in Spain during this period was Diego Velazquez who, like Caravaggio, produced genre paintings. He is probably best known for his paintings of Spain's royal family.

In the Dutch Republic new political and social systems replaced the monarchy. The Netherlands was becoming a very prosperous country with new colonies and expanding commerce. The new wealthy middle classes began to buy art works. One of the most famous painters from this part of Europe was Rembrandt van Rijn, another very important and influential artist in Western art.