Nero's Golden House & Grotesque Art Style
Greetings from Rome!
You may have found this blog quiet for a while but that doesn't mean there has been a lack of interesting things. I have just finished a tour of Spain with 13 people. It was a great tour and now I am getting ready to start the first Rome tour of the summer.
In the past few years, one of the exciting sites to open was the Domus Aurea or the Golden House of Nero. The house smacked of opulence and gave rise to the artistic style we have come to call grotesque.
Unfortunately, fall flooding caused the closing of the Domus until further notice. Those who were looking forward to seeing the magnificient construction, partially covered over by later emperors, will be a little disappointed. But the way things have been going in Rome, the Domus will re-open and we will once again be able to see the house that Nero built. Information on the site can be found on the Superintendent of Archaeology of Rome site (English is available, but was not working as of this posting).
The grotesque style of art, characterized by human and animal forms, often with seemingly unrealistic attitudes, along with free use of surrealistic foliage, arose from the first discovery of the Domus Aurea. In the 16th century, the likes of Michelangelo skinnied through a hole dug into what everyone thought was a cave or underground grotto. What they discovered were the magnificiently painted ceilings of the Domus Aurea.
Slowly artists began to incorporate this type of artistic decoration into their own work giving rise to the grotesque or grotto-like art. Only later, due to the over use and sometimes seemingly extravagant styling does the word come to mean our sense of disgusting.
Read about the grotesque style on the Giornale Nuovo blog.
Una vita non basta!
Tom
You may have found this blog quiet for a while but that doesn't mean there has been a lack of interesting things. I have just finished a tour of Spain with 13 people. It was a great tour and now I am getting ready to start the first Rome tour of the summer.
In the past few years, one of the exciting sites to open was the Domus Aurea or the Golden House of Nero. The house smacked of opulence and gave rise to the artistic style we have come to call grotesque.
Unfortunately, fall flooding caused the closing of the Domus until further notice. Those who were looking forward to seeing the magnificient construction, partially covered over by later emperors, will be a little disappointed. But the way things have been going in Rome, the Domus will re-open and we will once again be able to see the house that Nero built. Information on the site can be found on the Superintendent of Archaeology of Rome site (English is available, but was not working as of this posting).
The grotesque style of art, characterized by human and animal forms, often with seemingly unrealistic attitudes, along with free use of surrealistic foliage, arose from the first discovery of the Domus Aurea. In the 16th century, the likes of Michelangelo skinnied through a hole dug into what everyone thought was a cave or underground grotto. What they discovered were the magnificiently painted ceilings of the Domus Aurea.
Slowly artists began to incorporate this type of artistic decoration into their own work giving rise to the grotesque or grotto-like art. Only later, due to the over use and sometimes seemingly extravagant styling does the word come to mean our sense of disgusting.
Read about the grotesque style on the Giornale Nuovo blog.
Una vita non basta!
Tom
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