The Cardsharps

This is an exact size replica of the picture in the Kimbell Art Museum that is acknowledged as the prime version of one of Caravaggio’s most celebrated and most copied compositions. There is a slight difference in colour in the shirt worn by the card player on the left, and signs of some slight adjustment in the details, but in general the picture follows the Kimbell prototype with admirable precision. While copies are documented  as early as the 1620s, most of the replicas that are known today were produced in the second half of the 18th century when the original, then hanging in the Palazzo Barberini, became one of the most admired pictures in Rome by Grand Tourists. The Cardsharps seems to have proved especially popular with Scottish visitors, judging by the large number of versions, including this one, that entered into Scottish collections.