The Cardsharps

A naive young gambler studies his cards while across the table a boyish cheat pulls a hidden card from his belt and an older accomplice, peering over the dupe's shoulder, flashes the count on his fingers. Caravaggio turns a card game into a tight three-way drama of innocence and predation, every glance and gloved hand telling. The picture made his name: it caught the eye of Cardinal del Monte, who took the painter into his household. Its theme of trust and trickery would echo through a century of European genre painting.