Ornament and the Grotesque: Fantastical Decoration from Antiquity to Art Nouveau - Hardcover

'A lucid, eloquent and interesting survey ... a book that both teaches and delights, inviting us to consider seriously imagery that has conventionally been overlooked as `mere' decoration' - The Art Book 'Quite beautiful ... a valuable contribution to the subject' - The Art Newspaper

When Nero’s Golden House was unearthed in Rome at the end of the 15th century, its sumptuous interiors not only sparked renewed interest in ancient culture but also revealed an unfamiliar, playful style of Classical ornament. The walls were adorned with parodies of classical mythology, fantastic hybrid monsters, images of perverse eroticism, impossible architectural visions, giant butterflies, mischievous putti, monkeys and sphinxes – a whole repertoire of uninhibited imagination where nothing was taboo. However, it was Raphael’s decoration of the Vatican Loggie in c.1518 that made the grotesque into a European-wide fashion, and it soon became an integral decorative feature of religious buildings and the most lavish residences. This book reveals the key periods, influences and artists that shaped grotesque ornament, from its origins in Roman and medieval art to the discovery of the Golden House, the Classical revival and its most important stylistic developments between the 15th and 19th centuries.

Table of Contents

Preface · Origins: The Roman Period · The Classical Conception of Art · Precursors to the Grotesque · The Domus Aurea · Spread of the Grotesque: Evolution and Variation · The ‘Fantastic’ in the Middle Ages · Medieval Grotesques: Monsters in Art · Classicizing Features · Miniatures: Themes and Decorations · The Discovery of the Domus Aurea · The Fascination of ‘Grottoes’ · Between Rome and Florence: The Spread of Grotesques Iconography and Iconology of Grotesques · Contaminations: Hieroglyphs and Heraldic Emblems · Spread of Grotesques in Italy · Raphael and his School: Rise and Spread of Grotesques in the Early 16th Century · Raphael’s Promotion of the Genre: The Renaissance of Grotesques · Propagation and Interpretation of a Model: Raphael’s Pupils and Grotesques · Legacies and Developments in Italy · The New Canons. Styles, Themes and Iconographies · Critical Reflection · Decorative Programmes · Specialization of Artists Applications in the Minor Arts · Prints and Engravings · Reception in Europe · The 17th Century: Dialectic Between Efflorescence and Classicism · Tradition, Innovation, Variation on the Theme · The Inventions and Innovations of Jan Bérain · The 18th century and the Rococo: Singeries, Arabesques and Chinoiseries · The Naturalist Dimension: Arabesques TheLudicDimension:Singeries· TheExoticDimension:Chinoiseries·TheMagical Dimension: Porcelain · The Mirror of a World · Neoclassicism: The Ancients and Raphael Ancient Forms and New Thoughts · Diversification and Dilution of Grotesques · The Revival in the 19th Century