# Cardsharps and Fortune Teller [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [RÉGNIER, Nicolas]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 174 x 228 cm ## Commentary This complex, multi-figured composition, uniting the themes of cardsharps and gypsies, is an anthology of motifs selected from the works of <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/m/manfredi/guardroo.html'\)" HREF="/html/m/manfredi/guardroo.html">Manfredi</A> and <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/v/valentin/fortunet.html'\)" HREF="/html/v/valentin/fortunet.html">Valentin,</A> but it has a more sumptuous and sensual air than either. In a dark Roman inn, evoked by the ancient slab of stone, a sinister group of low-life types - a soldier, a muffled thief, courtesans, gypsies who seem to symbolize the perils of the world and the flesh - fleece two fashionable gulls. One falls prey to gypsies, while a young courtesan peers at the cards of his companion, signaling to a soldier accomplice, who has a card hidden in his palm. ## Related artworks - [A Musician Playing a Lute to a Singing Girl]() - [Cardsharps and Fortune Teller \(detail\)]() - [Guessing Game]() - [Self-Portrait with a Portrait on an Easel \(detail\)]() - [Self-Portrait with a Portrait on an Easel]() - [St John the Baptist]() - [St Sebastian]() - [St Sebastian Tended by Irene and Her Servant]() - [The Death of Sophonisba]() - [The Fortune Teller]() - [Vanitas \(Allegory of Transience\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()