"Come praticarono molti". Three-dimensional paper models in Italy

In this paper the Author explores the use of three-dimensional paper models, a class of architectural scale models extensively used by architects and artists from 16th to 18th century to communicate their designs. The paper presents a group of drawings by leading Italian architects and artists of the Renaissance and Baroque period, that, thanks to the presence of certain cuts, folds, or tabs, have been possible to recognize as unfolded or disassembled three-dimensional paper models in various drawings collections worldwide. Through selected documents, many no longer existing paper models are also discussed in their proper cultural, material and social contexts, clarifying the role that paper models played in the difficult process of communicating ideas among architects and patrons, in the self-promotion of the architects through the spontaneous submission of appealing models in highly competitive artistic environments and in spreading novelties from major artistic centers to other cultural areas.