#grotteschi

In this joyous imagining of Jesus’s birth, choirs of angels - each with a different musical attribute - fill the stable with celebratory music. The artist elaborated the setting with luxurious red porphyry and green marble architectural features adorned with floral designs called grotteschi. These organic yet fantastical decorative motifs were inspired by the recent excavation of the Domus Aureus, Emperor Nero’s grand, first-century palace in Rome. Here, these details are likely meant to evoke the tradition that Christ’s birth took place in a stable constructed in the ruins of the biblical king David’s palace.

Italian Renaissance grotesques (grottesche)

The Monumental Tablet, from Grotteschi , by Piranesi