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Orientalizing grotesque in a cozy alcove

In art, grotesques are ornamental arrangements of arabesques with interlaced garlands and small and fantastic human and animal figures, usually set out in a symmetrical pattern around some form of architectural framework.

When Nero's palace in Rome, the Domus Aurea, was inadvertently rediscovered in the late 15th century, buried in fifteen hundred years of fill, the first breakthrough was from above, so that those keen to see the rooms had to be lowered down into them on ropes, completing their resemblance to caves, grotte in Italian. The Roman wall decorations in fresco and delicate stucco were a revelation! The designs were rediscovered by Renaissance artists like Raffaello and Pinturicchio while studying the Domus Aurea ruins.  In fact, Raffaello’s use of grottesche made his name synonymous with the pattern Raffallesco.  The words grottesche and raffaellesche are interchangeable today.

Here I am designing an orientalizing grotesque pattern for a micro-bedroom in Rome (only 8.5 sqm), which aims to recall the atmosphere of a cozy alcove based on a red and purple palette.  



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