BOZZETTO. - A model in painting or sculpture, executed on a small scale in order summarily to define the compositional lines and bring out the masses (that is, to “abbozzare” or “sbozzare,” whence the etymology of the word), without reaching the ultimate details of a finished work. For practical purposes, the b. is the means by which the artist shows the patron the general guidelines according to which he will develop his work, and the form that a commission has assumed in his imagination. Artistically, these first general ideas, not clearly defined in their final particulars, are of the greatest interest, because they not only shed light on the creative process of a work, but often visibly convey an emotional state that loses intensity in the final execution. The b. came into use in the late sixteenth century and gradually assumed ever greater prominence, until, especially in certain respects, it came in modern art to be equivalent to the finished work of art.
It should nevertheless be borne in mind that it is not permissible to confuse the summary character of the preliminary sketch, which presupposes the finished completeness of a work, with the summary character deriving from a free, spontaneous vision which, as such, is defined for the artist and therefore definitive in its sculptural or pictorial realization, despite its apparent sketchiness. Very well known are the b. for the great decorative works of P. Da Cortona, Baciccia, and Tiepolo, no less than those for many sculptures of the Baroque age. Rubens already executed b. far superior in spontaneity and vividness to the finished works. - Vedi Tav. CXX. Guglielmo Matthiae