Elegant and gorgeous oil on canvas grotesque painted on pure gold 12k leaf. In the 17th and 18th centuries the grotesque encompasses a wide field of artistic experimentation. The monstrous, for instance, often occurs as the notion of play. The sportiveness of the grotesque category can be seen in the notion of the preternatural category of the lusus naturae, in natural history writings and in cabinets of curiosities. Grotesque ornament received a further impetus from new discoveries of original Roman frescoes and stucchi at Pompeii and the other buried sites round Mount Vesuvius from the middle of the century. It continued in use, becoming increasingly heavy, in the Empire Style and then in the Victorian period, when designs often became as densely packed as in 16th-century engravings, and the elegance and fancy of the style tended to be lost. In this gorgeous oil painting the tradition of the grotesque is followed with meticous precision and dedition on a silver leaf gilded canvas. Painting size cm.55x51