St Andrew Praying Before His Martyrdom 1643

Carlo Dolci made this painting, St Andrew Praying Before His Martyrdom, using oil paints, a painstaking medium favored by the Italian Baroque. Notice the visual intensity achieved by the artist, and the very high degree of finish, particularly on the main figure of St. Andrew, as well as the angel and the clouds in the background. Look closely and you will see a ladder, ropes, and other construction implements, all of which would have been produced by skilled tradesmen, outside the rarefied world of fine art. It's not that Dolci was ignorant of this world; on the contrary, he was deeply enmeshed in it. We can see a world of artisanal labor just outside the frame, which enabled the artist to achieve his effects. This division of labor – between artistic concept and the actual making of the work – is a persistent theme of modern production.