Michelangelo was in the habit of assigning to members of his studio modelli done to his specifications: "in Michelagelo studies the presentation drawings are understood to be the group of finished drawings that Michelangelo gave to his friends such as Tommaso de' Cavallieri", remarked Bernadine Barnes (Barnes "A Lost Modello for Michelangelo's 'Last Judgment'" Master Drawings26.3 (Autumn 1988:239–248) p. 247 note 4) in justifying her use of modello for the lost original of two copies in public collections. In the case of architectural modelli, the actual construction could be by craftsmen from drawings by the architect. A discussion about a Hieronymous Bosch drawing that illustrates when the term is appropriate to use is in note 23 on page 21 of: J.O. Hand & M. Wolff, Early Netherlandish Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington catalogue (Cambridge UP), 1986, ISBN0-521-34016-0; the correspondence concerning the appropriateness or not of modello applied by Michael Hirst to presentation drawings by Michelangelo that were "done expressly for patronal approval, criticism or rejection" (Hirst, Michelangelo and His Drawings, 1988:79) is noted above.
See: Jonathan Brown, Richard G. Mann; Spanish Paintings of the Fifteenth Through Nineteenth Centuries: The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Oxford University Press US, 1990, ISBN0-521-40107-0. In the last paragraph of p.73, the view is advanced that an El Greco was produced as a ricordo for the first version of a work, and then used as the modello for a second version.
courtauldprints.com
Braham Helen, The Princes Gate Collection, p. 74, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London 1981, ISBN0-904563-04-9Courtauld Institute image – note this is reversed compared to the final painting.
