The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew (recto); Back of a Woman Wearing a Long Dress with a Ruff (verso) 1689 - 1767

Curator: This ink drawing, created sometime between 1689 and 1767, comes to us from the hand of Gaspare Diziani, an Italian artist of the late Baroque period. The work, housed here at the Met, depicts "The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew," but it has a second drawing on the back! Editor: Wow, even in monochrome, the scene explodes with dynamism. It’s moody, theatrical almost. There’s an almost cinematic composition at play; your eye sweeps from the angels in the top to this horrific scene playing out, and you can almost feel the agony in the drawing’s dark lines. Curator: Right, it's crucial to situate this martyrdom within its historical and religious contexts. Diziani created this at a time when the Catholic Church utilized the arts to communicate narratives of faith and promote Counter-Reformation ideology, Saint Andrew's story, one of sacrifice and unwavering belief, would have resonated deeply. Editor: Absolutely, the narrative hits you hard and the choice of black ink is inspired; this technique adds another layer of grief. You can imagine how this intensity translated to audiences. Looking at the faces, or what you can make out of them, they carry so much weight. Curator: Indeed, let’s also look at how Diziani deploys classical themes of injustice, authority, and faith through what we would recognize as an intersectional approach of Saint Andrew's martyrdom narrative and relate them with struggles for equality of marginalized figures today. Editor: And while he uses the themes of classical injustice with the depiction of powerful Roman soldiers who follow orders, his hand remains uniquely contemporary. To me, Diziani is really saying, "Hey, feel the weight of what they’re doing." Saint Andrew almost feels weightless on his cross because we have taken all the burden and lifted him! What about the woman on the other side of the drawing? Is it possible she holds Saint Andrew on her shoulder too? Curator: That’s such an interesting, creative read. Diziani challenges our very assumptions! And on the reverse side he sketches a woman's back and offers us another story that we could talk about it, one of identity and representation, adding yet another dimension to the experience. Editor: He asks us to feel everything, doesn't he? To connect. Diziani shows the audience that he believes Saint Andrew carries us all through dark history, from that point through to the future.