plateresque

American  

[plat-uh-resk] / ˌplæt əˈrɛsk /

adjective

(sometimes initial capital letter)

1. noting or pertaining to a 16th-century style of Spanish architecture characterized by profuse applications of delicate low-relief Renaissance ornament to isolated parts of building exteriors.

---

Etymology

Origin of plateresque

1835–45; < Spanish plateresco, equivalent to plater ( o ) silversmith ( plat ( a ) silver; see platina + -ero < Latin -ārius -ary ) + -esco -esque; so called because the heavy ornamentation of the style suggested decorated silverwork

Example Sentences

Thus at a stroke, Philip ended the tradition of exuberantly ornamented Spanish architecture known as the plateresque, a hodgepodge of Gothic, Moorish and early Renaissance motifs.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is a hollow, crowned by half a dome in the shape of a shell which in its turn is surmounted by a plateresque cornice in the shape of a long and narrow scroll.

From The Cathedrals of Northern Spain by Rudy, Charles

The new temple was therefore erected beside the former, and, obeying the art impulses of the centuries which witnessed its construction, is an ogival church spoilt—or bettered—by Renaissance, plateresque, and grotesque decorative elements.

From The Cathedrals of Northern Spain by Rudy, Charles

Typically Spanish in its fine proportion, in its exuberance of fantastic decoration, his church is a masterpiece of plateresque architecture.

From The Land of The Blessed Virgin; Sketches and Impressions in Andalusia by Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset)

The northern facades of all the palaces along the Marina are beautifully embellished above the vestibules with an intricate plateresque decoration, modeled after portals in Old Spain.

From The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition A Pictorial Survey of the Art of the Panama-Pacific international exposition by Perry, Stella George Stern