In the visual arts, some thing that serves as the subject of a representation, often used of persons sitting for portraits (i. E. A “sitter”), or of the person depicted bodily in nudes and other genres focusing on the depiction of human figures; (v. T. ) To give the appearance of three-dimensional appearance to an object; also, to use some pliant material, such as clay, to make representation of some physical object or simply to shape a material with three dimensions.