Italian decorative painter. The execution of grotesques, designed by Raphael and his workshop, was left to specialists in the sixteenth century. We know only a few of their names, including Giovanni da Udine, Cesare Baglione and Giovanni Antonio Paganino; many others remain anonymous.
Some of the Roman paintings found in the Domus Aurea and elsewhere correspond quite precisely what Vasari and others determined to be the typical features of grotesques. These paintings inspired several ceiling designs ‘all’antica’ in the first part of the sixteenth century. The desire to revive not only the forms of ancient Roman architecture but also their decoration may help to explain the success of these paintings. In particular, Raphael and the specialist in his workshop, who mastered the genre completely, helped the grotesque style to spread quickly in Rome. This style enjoyed a long-lasting success, which can still be demonstrated even after mid-century. Nevertheless, quite early on the genre developed independently and distanced itself increasingly from ancient models. Later grotesques differed from antique iconography in every respect and retain only the principle of an absurd and paradoxical combination of varied buildings, figures, animals, and plants that Vitruvius criticized.
The fresco decoration in Città di Castello is an example of the later grotesques.
