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GROTESQUE

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 621 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GROTESQUE , strictly a See also:

form of decorative See also:art, in See also:painting or See also:sculpture, consisting of fantastic shapes of human beings, animals and the like, joined together by wreaths of See also:flowers, garlands or arabesques. The word is also applied to any whimsical See also:design or decorative See also:style, if characterized by unnatural distortion, and, generally, to anything ludicrous or extravagantly fanciful. " Grotesque " comes through the See also:French from the Ital. groltesco, an See also:adjective formed from grotta, which has been corrupted in See also:English to " grotto." The commonly accepted explanation of the See also:special use of the See also:term " grotesque " is that this particular form of decorative art was most frequently found in the excavated See also:ancient See also:Roman and See also:Greek dwellings found in See also:Italy, to which was applied the name grotte. The derivation of grotta is through popular See also:Lat. crupta or grupta (cf. " See also:crypt "), from Gr. Kpinrr?1, a vault, KpinrTELV, to hide. Such a term would be applicable both to the buried dwellings of ancient Italy, and to a cavern, artificial or natural, the See also:ordinary sense of the word. An interesting parallel with this origin of the word is found in that of " antic," now meaning a freak, a jest, absurd See also:fancy, &c. This word is the same as " See also:antique," and was, like " grotesque," first applied to the fanciful decorations of ancient art.

End of Article: GROTESQUE

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