Ornament and the Grotesque: Fantastical Decoration From Antiquity To Art Nouveau

A lavish survey of the grotesque style in European painting and decoration, from Roman times to the late nineteenth century. This magnificently illustrated book covers the entire history of the grotesque in European art, from its Roman origins through the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century. It illuminates how grotesque decoration was transformed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries into arabesque, chinoiserie, and singeries, and how it continued in the nineteenth century, leading eventually to Art Nouveau.