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Jump to navigationJump to searchCreated page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Etymology== Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca, [[litera...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Grotesque-Head-portion.jpg|right|frame]]
==Etymology==
Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca, [[literally]], cave painting, feminine of grottesco of a cave, from grotta
*Date: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1561]
==Definitions==
*1 a : a style of decorative [[art]] characterized by fanciful or fantastic [[human]] and [[animal]] forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the [[natural]] into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature
:b : a piece of [[work]] in this style
*2 : one that is '''grotesque'''
==Description==
The word '''grotesque''' comes from the same [[Latin]] root as "Grotto", [[meaning]] a small cave or hollow. The [[original]] meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient [[Roman]] decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_Century 15th century]. The "caves" were in fact rooms and corridors of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea Domus Aurea], the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the great fire from AD 64, which had become overgrown and buried, until they were broken into again, mostly from above.
In [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#1500-present.09THE_MODERN_ENGLISH_PERIOD modern English], grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, fantastic, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween Halloween] masks. More specifically, the grotesque forms on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture Gothic buildings], when not used as drain-spouts, should not be called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle gargoyles], but rather referred to simply as grotesques, or chimeras.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotesque]
[[Category: The Arts]]
==Etymology==
Middle French & Old Italian; Middle French, from Old Italian (pittura) grottesca, [[literally]], cave painting, feminine of grottesco of a cave, from grotta
*Date: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 1561]
==Definitions==
*1 a : a style of decorative [[art]] characterized by fanciful or fantastic [[human]] and [[animal]] forms often interwoven with foliage or similar figures that may distort the [[natural]] into absurdity, ugliness, or caricature
:b : a piece of [[work]] in this style
*2 : one that is '''grotesque'''
==Description==
The word '''grotesque''' comes from the same [[Latin]] root as "Grotto", [[meaning]] a small cave or hollow. The [[original]] meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient [[Roman]] decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15th_Century 15th century]. The "caves" were in fact rooms and corridors of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domus_Aurea Domus Aurea], the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the great fire from AD 64, which had become overgrown and buried, until they were broken into again, mostly from above.
In [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#1500-present.09THE_MODERN_ENGLISH_PERIOD modern English], grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, fantastic, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween Halloween] masks. More specifically, the grotesque forms on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_architecture Gothic buildings], when not used as drain-spouts, should not be called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargoyle gargoyles], but rather referred to simply as grotesques, or chimeras.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotesque]
[[Category: The Arts]]
