Note 23 — THE ADAM PERIOD

“By grotesque is meant that beautiful light stile of ornament used by the ancient Romans in the decoration of the palaces, baths and villas. It is also to be seen in some of their amphitheatres, temples and tombs; the greatest part of which being vaulted and covered with ruins, have been dug up and cleared by the modern Italians, who, for these reasons, give them the name of grotte, which is perhaps a corruption of the Latin Criptæ, a word borrowed from the Greeks, as the Romans did most of their terms, in architecture; and hence the word grotesque, and the English word signifying a cave.

“In the times of Raphael, Michael Angelo, Julio Romano, Polidoro, Giov. d’Udine, Vasari, Zuchero and Algardi, there is no doubt but there was much greater remains of the grotte, than what are now to be seen, and in imitation of them were decorated the loggias of the Vatican, the villas Madama, Pamfili, Caprarola, the old palace at Florence; and indeed whatever else is elegant and admirable in the finishings of modern Italy. The French, who till of late never adopted the ornaments of the ancients, and jealous as all mankind are of the reputation of their national taste, have branded those ornaments with the vague and fantastical appellation of arabesque, a stile which, though entirely distinct from the grotesque, has, notwithstanding, been most absurdly and universally confounded with it by the ignorant.

“This classical stile of ornament, by far the most perfect that has ever appeared for inside decorations, and which has stood the test of many ages, like other works of genius, requires not only fancy and imagination in the composition, but taste and judgment in the application; and when these are happily combined, this gay and elegant mode is capable of inimitable beauties.

“Vitruvius with great reason condemns an over-licentiousness in compositions of this kind, and blames the painters of his time for introducing monstrous extravagances. We mean not to vindicate anything that deserves such appellations, but surely in light and gay compositions, designed merely to amuse, it is not altogether necessary to exclude the whimsical and bizarre.”