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.

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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

See Examples For:

plateresque

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

The cloister—well, anywhere else it might have been praised for its plateresque simplicity and severity, but here!—it is out of date and place.

From The Cathedrals of Northern Spain by Rudy, Charles

The great arches are decorated after the plateresque style, and the spandrels abound in garlands, horns of plenty and other goodly tokens.

From The Architecture and Landscape Gardening of the Exposition A Pictorial Survey of the Most Beautiful Achitectural Compositions of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition by Mullgardt, Louis Christian

Though the latter is plateresque, cold and severe, the former is the richest of all the portals as regards sculptural details; the carving of the panels is also of the finest workmanship.

From The Cathedrals of Northern Spain by Rudy, Charles

In the portals on the south side of the group of palaces, facing the Avenue of Palms, we have again the beauteous old Spanish doorways in plateresque design, with niches filled with modern sculpture.

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