The grotesque in church art . HAKIV. EX] I 11 -. RAGE AND TEKROR, R1FON. ^Definitions of the (Srotesque. *HE term Grotesque, which conveys to- us an idea•*? of humourous distortion or exaggeration, is simplygrotto-esque, being literally the style of art found in thegrottos or baths of the ancients. The term rose towardsthe end of the fifteenth century, when exhumation broughtto light the fantastic decorations of the more privateapartments of the licentious Romans. The use at thatperiod of a similar style for not unsimilar purposes gavethe word common currency, and it has spread to everythingwh
The grotesque in church art . HAKIV. EX] I 11 -. RAGE AND TEKROR, R1FON. ^Definitions of the (Srotesque. *HE term Grotesque, which conveys to- us an idea•*? of humourous distortion or exaggeration, is simplygrotto-esque, being literally the style of art found in thegrottos or baths of the ancients. The term rose towardsthe end of the fifteenth century, when exhumation broughtto light the fantastic decorations of the more privateapartments of the licentious Romans. The use at thatperiod of a similar style for not unsimilar purposes gavethe word common currency, and it has spread to everythingwhich, combined with wit or not, provokes a smile by areal or pretended violation of the laws of Nature andBeauty. In its later, and not in its original, meaning isthe word applied to the extraordinary productions of churchart. We may usefully inquire as to the causes of those 6 THE GROTESQUE IN CHURCH ART. remarkable characteristics of Gothic art which have causedthe word Grotesque to fittingly describe so much of itsdetail. The joke has a d
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