grotesque
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 7:14 pm
I heard today on the History channel that grotesque was a word coined in the 1500's to describe the images of Nero's frescoes (part man part animal/monster images) when they were discovered; Nero; paranoid and crazed had created a monument to his insanity that was covered over and rediscovered, so it was said.grotesque
A noun
1 grotesque
art characterized by an incongruous mixture of parts of humans and animals interwoven with plants
Category Tree:
entity
╚object; physical_object
╚artifact; artefact
╚creation
╚art; fine_art
╚grotesque
B adjective
1 grotesque, monstrous, unnatural
distorted and unnatural in shape or size; abnormal and hideous; "tales of grotesque serpents eight fathoms long that churned the seas"; "twisted into monstrous shapes"
2 antic, fantastic, fantastical, grotesque
ludicrously odd; "Hamlet's assumed antic disposition"; "fantastic Halloween costumes"; "a grotesque reflection in the mirror
from wordreferance.com
I'm trying to find confirmation of that claim.
this from allwords
so much for the History channels credibility.grotesque
adj grotesquer, grotesquest
1. Very unnatural or strange-looking, so as to cause fear or laughter.
Thesaurus: deformed, misshapen, hideous, ugly, monstrous, unnatural, gruesome, freakish, macabre, gothic, strange, bizarre.
2. Exaggerated; ridiculous; absurd.
noun
1. A 16c style in art which features animals, plants and people mixed together in a strange or fantastic manner.
Form: the grotesque
2. A work of art in this style.
Derivative: grotesquely
adverb
Derivative: grotesqueness
noun
Derivative: grotesquery
Grotesque objects collectively.
Grotesqueness.
Etymology: 16c as crotesque: from Italian pittura grottesca cave painting, from grotta cave.
Kt
