Modello

A modello [moˈdɛllo] (plural modelli), from Italian,[1] is a preparatory study or model, usually at a smaller scale, for a work of art or architecture, especially one produced for the approval of the commissioning patron.

[5] Though in Gothic figural arts bishops and abbots are often represented carrying small simulacra[6] of buildings they had constructed – "models" in the familiar modern sense – modello is only used of pieces which pre-date the finished work, and were at least in part produced by the main artist involved.

"[17] A preliminary modello colorito in the form of a painted three-dimensional model was especially important to prejudge the finished effect of illusionistic sotto-in-su perspectives on the curved surfaces of vaulted ceilings, as Andrea Pozzo, the perfector of the illusionistic ceiling, noted in his Perspectiva pictorum et architectorum (1700–17)[18] Many modelli show versions of works which were never actually realised, or have been lost.

Lorenzo Ghiberti won, beating six other artists, including Filippo Brunelleschi, Donatello and Jacopo della Quercia; the modelli survive, for a single panel, of the first two named (Bargello – picture above).

[19] When accepted, such models were retained during the work, as concrete expressions of what was expected under the terms of the contract, and afterwards were preserved in storage through salutary neglect.