Adjacent Words

plateresque definitions

	Tweet

Merriam Webster's

adjective Usage: often capitalized Etymology: Spanish plateresco, from platero silversmith, from plata silver Date: circa 1864 of, relating to, or being a 16th century Spanish architectural style characterized by elaborate ornamentation suggestive of silver plate

Britannica Concise

Main architectural style in Spain and its New World colonies in the late 15th and 16th cent. The name (which comes from a comparison to the intricate work of silversmiths) came to be generally applied to late Gothic and early Renaissance Spanish architecture, which was characterized by minutely detailed relief ornament derived from Moorish, Gothic, and Italian Renaissance sources and applied without regard for structure. Favorite motifs include twisted columns, heraldic escutcheons, and sinuous scrolls. Clusters of ornament contrast with broad expanses of flat wall surface. Outstanding examples of the style include the College of San Gregorio, Valladolid (1488), the town hall of Seville (begun 1527), and Granada Cathedral (1528-43). Philip II's reaction to Plateresque excess was to build El Escorial.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. richly ornamented in a style suggesting silverware. Etymology: Sp. plateresco f. platero silversmith f. plata silver

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Plateresque Plat`er*esque", a. [Sp. resco, from plata silver.] (Arch.) Resembling silver plate; -- said of certain architectural ornaments.