Playing the Gentleman: Concealed Identities among Cardsharps in the Rome of Caravaggio

Cardsharps in early modern Italy were known for their legerdemain. However, they also concealed their identities by taking on the appearance of gentlemen, which gave them access to elite gambling parlors. This paper will examine the tricks and strategies that lowborn cardsharps employed to swindle members of Rome’s elite. In doing so, it will demonstrate shifting notions of status in the seventeenth century.