andrei rublev made me think of bad lieutenant again actually, how can you make something pretty/or do good in a world that is so rotten.
both have religion as the main drive.
in the movie you never see andrei work, he is disgusted by the world/russia and all you see him do is flee, the young boy who can only cry after creating something pretty/good makes him decide to take him along and make his later best known piece.
like you i read up on him after and looked at various works, you can really see tarkovsky was inspired by him in his shots and esspecially always using decay, i've never seen a nicely new plastered wall in a tarkovsky but always paint blisters and run down colours.
Showing the way for the modern man to become a Model Man.