Analysis of Social Class Through Clothing in Caravaggio's 'The Cardsharps'

An excerpt from Elizabeth Currie's upcoming book 'Street Style: Art and Dress in the Time of Caravaggio' examines how garments in Caravaggio's painting 'The Cardsharps' reveal social hierarchies and identities. The work analyzes the three figures' clothing—a finely dressed youth, a possibly liveried servant, and an ambiguous older man—to show how fashion complicated class distinctions in late 16th-century Italy. The text explores how garments circulated through second-hand markets, theft, and reuse, and how striped fabrics, feathers, and cloaks carried specific social meanings. The painting's attention to material details reflects Caravaggio's realism while leaving questions about the characters' backgrounds open to interpretation.