The auxiliary plastic models and their functions among Italian painters: with the listing of the passages on the theme taken from the artistic literature

Author(s)

Alexandre Ragazzi

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2010-06-12

Examining board members

Luiz Cesar Marques Filho; Luciano Migliaccio; Claudia Valladao Mattos; Jens Michael Baumgarten; Magno Moraes Mello

• Advisor: Luiz Cesar Marques Filho

Abstract

Procedure emerged in central Italy during the Quattrocento, the use of auxiliary plastic models was among the various stages that made up the long process of creating a painting. This practice consisted in developing artistic figurines of clay or wax, which should act as models for the painter. They could be dressed up or not, used as isolated figures or in a composition. Due to the fragile materials with which they were made and the lack of interest of the contemporaries in preserving them, just a few could resist the action of time, and the resources now available to attest to their existence are primarily the analysis of paintings and drawings, of inventories and of the artistic literature. Actually, although sparse, there are a lot of testimonies about this practice in the writings on art, and through these records it is possible to understand the functions and the value attributed to these models in the creative process of painters. The moment of greatest diffusion of this practice seems to have taken place during the sixteenth century. The existing evidences point to a widespread use of such models among Italian artists, both in central and northern Italy. However, from the end of the century it is also possible to notice that this practice came into question, sometimes being encouraged and sometimes disapproved. The analysis of this period, therefore, offers the possibility of demarcating this artistic practice and, at the same time, assessing its extent and scope. (AU)