Editing Arabesque (section)

==Terminology and Western arabesque==
[[File:"Music" MET ra52.118.R.jpg|thumb|The French sense of arabesque: a [[Savonnerie]] carpet in the [[Louis XIV style]], {{circa}}1685–1697, wool, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York City]]
[[File:Design for an Arabesque MET DP811613.jpg|thumb|Design of a [[Louis XVI style]] arabesque, by [[Étienne de La Vallée Poussin]], {{circa}}1780–1793, pen and gray and brown ink, brush and colored wash, Metropolitan Museum of Art]]
[[File:Царское-село,-Екатерининский-дворец.jpg|thumb|The "Arabesque Room" in the [[Catherine Palace]], with [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] [[grotesque]] decoration]]
Arabesque is a [[French language|French]] term derived from the [[Italian language|Italian]] word ''arabesco'', meaning "in the Arabic style".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/arabesque|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122225637/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/arabesque|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 22, 2019|title=Arabesque {{!}} Definition of Arabesque by Lexico|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English|language=en|access-date=2019-11-22}}</ref> The term was first used in Italian, where ''rabeschi'' was used in the 16th century as a term for "[[pilaster]] ornaments featuring [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus]] decoration",<ref name="Osborne, 34">Osborne, 34</ref> specifically "running scrolls" that ran vertically up a panel or pilaster, rather than horizontally along a [[frieze]].<ref>Fuhring, 159</ref>

According to [[Ralph Nicholson Wornum]] in 1882: "The western arabesque which appeared in the 15th century derived from Roman remains of the early time of the empire, not to any style derived from Arabian or Moorish work. Arabesque and Moresque are really distinct; the latter is from the Arabian style of ornament, developed by the Byzantine Greeks for their new masters, after the conquests of the followers of Mahomet; and the former is a term pretty well restricted to varieties of cinquecento decoration, which have nothing in common with any Arabian examples in their details, but are a development derived from Greek and Roman grotesque designs, such as we find them in the remains of ancient palaces at Rome, and in ancient houses at Pompeii. These were reproduced by Raphael and his pupils in the decoration of some of the corridors of the Loggie of the Vatican at Rome: grotesque is thus a better name for these decorations than Arabesque. This technical Arabesque, therefore, is much more ancient than any Arabian or Moorish decoration, and has really nothing in common with it except the mere symmetrical principles of its arrangement. Pliny and Vitruvius give us no name for the extravagant decorative wall-painting in vogue in their time, to which the early Italian revivers of it seem to have given the designation of grotesque, because it, was first discovered in the arched or underground chambers (grotte) of Roman ruins—as in the golden house of Nero, or the baths of Titus. What really took place in the Italian revival was in some measure a supplanting of the Arabesque for the classical grotesque, still retaining the original Arabian designation, while the genuine Arabian art, the Saracenic, was distinguished as Moresque or Moorish."<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Arabesque}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ralph N Wornum |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.279529 |title=Analysis Of Ornament The Characteristics Of Styles |date=1882}}</ref>

The book ''Opera nuova che insegna a le donne a cuscire … laqual e intitolata Esempio di raccammi'' (A New Work that Teaches Women how to Sew … Entitled "Samples of Embroidery"), published in Venice in 1530, includes "groppi moreschi e rabeschi", Moorish knots and arabesques.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/35.75.3 Met Museum]; the Italian word uses the Latin derived "inceptive" or "inchoative" word ending "-esco" signifying a beginning, thus ''ferveo'', to boil and ''fervesco'' to begin to boil.</ref>

From there it spread to England, where [[Henry VIII]] owned, according to an inventory of 1549, an [[agate]] cup with a "fote and Couer of siluer and guilt enbossed with Rebeske worke",<ref>[[OED]], "Arabesque":"1549 Inventory Henry VIII (1998) 25/2 Item one Cuppe of Agathe the fote and Couer of siluer and guilt enbossed with Rebeske worke";</ref> and William Herne or Heron, [[Serjeant Painter]] from 1572 to 1580, was paid for painting Elizabeth I's barge with "rebeske work".<ref>"rebeske" being a now disused version of "arabesque", see OED, "Rebesk". Herne payment quoted in [[Erna Auerbach]], ''Tudor Artists'', 1954; not in print OED</ref>  The styles so described can only be guessed at, although the design by [[Hans Holbein the younger|Hans Holbein]] for a covered cup for [[Jane Seymour]] in 1536 (see gallery) already has zones in both Islamic-derived arabesque/moresque style (see below) and classically derived [[acanthus (ornament)|acanthus volutes]].<ref name=marks>Marks, Richard and Williamson, Paul, eds. ''Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547'', 156, 2003, V&A Publications, London, {{ISBN|1-85177-401-7}}.  For other Renaissance ornament from Henry's court, see also no 13 on page 156, and pp. 144-145, 148-149.</ref>

Another related term is [[moresque]], meaning "[[Moors|Moorish]]"; [[Randle Cotgrave]]'s ''A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues'' of 1611 defines this as: "a rude or anticke painting, or carving, wherin the feet and tayles of beasts, &c, are intermingled with, or made to resemble, a kind of wild leaves, &c."<ref>OED, "Moresque", citing Cotgrave</ref> and "arabesque", in its earliest use cited in the [[OED]] (but as a French word), as "Rebeske work; a small and curious flourishing".<ref name="OED, Arabesque">OED, "Arabesque"</ref>  In France "arabesque" first appears in 1546,<ref>Larrouse dictionary</ref> and "was first applied in the latter part of the 17th century" to [[grotesque]] ornament, "despite the classical origin of the latter", especially if without human figures in it—a distinction still often made, but not consistently observed.<ref>Osborne, 34 (quoted), see also [[OED]] quoted below and Cotgrave - Osborne says the French usage begins in the "latter part of the 17th century" but in the following paragraphs describes a development beginning rather before this.</ref>

Over the following centuries, the three terms "grotesque", "moresque", and "arabesque" were used largely interchangeably in English, French, and German for styles of decoration derived at least as much from the European past as the Islamic world, with "grotesque" gradually acquiring its main modern meaning, related more to Gothic [[gargoyle]]s and [[caricature]] than to either [[Pompeii]]-style Roman painting or Islamic patterns. Meanwhile, the word "arabesque" was now being applied to Islamic art itself, by 1851 at the latest, when [[John Ruskin]] uses it in ''[[The Stones of Venice (book)|The Stones of Venice]]''.<ref>''[[The Stones of Venice (book)|The Stones of Venice]]'', [http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ruskin/sov/1.html chapter 1, para 26]</ref>  Writers over the last decades have attempted to salvage meaningful distinctions between the words from the confused wreckage of historical sources.

Peter Fuhring, a specialist in the history of ornament, says that (also in a French context): <blockquote>The ornament known as moresque in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (but now more commonly called arabesque) is characterized by bifurcated scrolls composed of branches forming interlaced foliage patterns. These basic motifs gave rise to numerous variants, for example, where the branches, generally of a linear character, were turned into straps or bands. ... It is characteristic of the moresque, which is essentially a surface ornament, that it is impossible to locate the pattern's beginning or end. ... Originating in the Middle East, they were introduced to continental Europe via Italy and Spain ... Italian examples of this ornament, which was often used for bookbindings and embroidery, are known from as early as the late fifteenth century.<ref>Fuhring, 162</ref></blockquote>

Fuhring notes that grotesques were "confusingly called arabesques in eighteenth century France", but in his terminology "the major types of ornament that appear in French sixteenth century etchings and engraving ... can be divided into two groups. The first includes ornaments adopted from antiquity: grotesques, architectural ornaments such as the orders, foliage scrolls and self-contained elements such as trophies, terms and vases. A second group, far smaller than the first, comprises modern ornaments: moresques, interlaced bands, strapwork, and elements such as cartouches"—categories he goes on to discuss individually.<ref>Fuhring, 155–156</ref>

The moresque or arabesque style was especially popular and long-lived in the Western arts of the book: [[bookbinding]]s decorated in gold tooling, borders for illustrations, and printer's ornaments for decorating empty spaces on the page. In this field the technique of gold tooling had also arrived in the 15th century from the Islamic world, and indeed much of the leather itself was imported from there.<ref>Harthan, 10–12</ref> Small motifs in this style have continued to be used by conservative book designers up to the present day.

According to Harold Osborne, in France, the "characteristic development of the French arabesque combined bandwork deriving from the moresque with decorative acanthus foliage radiating from C-scrolls connected by short bars".<ref name="Osborne, 34" /> Apparently starting in [[embroidery]], it then appears in garden design before being used in [[Northern Mannerist]] painted decorative schemes "with a central medallion combined with acanthus and other forms" by [[Simon Vouet]] and then [[Charles Lebrun]] who used "scrolls of flat bandwork joined by horizontal bars and contrasting with ancanthus scrolls and [[palmette]]."<ref>Osborne, 34-35</ref> More exuberant arabesque designs by [[Jean Bérain the Elder]] are an early "intimation" of the [[Rococo]], which was to take the arabesque into three dimensions in reliefs.<ref>Osborne, 35</ref>

The use of "arabesque" as an English noun first appears, in relation to painting, in [[William Thomas Beckford|William Beckford]]'s novel ''[[Vathek]]'' in 1786.<ref name="OED, Arabesque" /> Arabesque is also used as a term for complex freehand pen flourishes in drawing or other graphic media. The ''[[Grove Dictionary of Art]]'' will have none of this confusion, and says flatly: "Over the centuries the word has been applied to a wide variety of winding and twining vegetal decoration in art and meandering themes in music, but it properly applies only to Islamic art",<ref>[[Oxford Art Online]], "Arabesque", accessed March 25, 2011</ref> so contradicting the definition of 1888 still found in the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'': "A species of mural or surface decoration in colour or low relief, composed in flowing lines of branches, leaves, and scroll-work fancifully intertwined. Also fig[uratively]. As used in Moorish and Arabic decorative art (from which, almost exclusively, it was known in the Middle Ages), representations of living creatures were excluded; but in the arabesques of [[Raphael]], founded on the ancient Græco-Roman work of this kind, and in those of Renaissance decoration, human and animal figures, both natural and grotesque, as well as vases, armour, and objects of art, are freely introduced; to this the term is now usually applied, the other being distinguished as Moorish Arabesque, or Moresque."<ref>OED, printed and online editions (accessed March 2011)</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px">
Panel of Tellus, Ara Pacis, Rome (II).jpg|[[Ancient Roman architecture|Roman]] - Arabesque on the [[Ara Pacis]], Rome, unknown architect and sculptors, 13-9 BC<ref>{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Hutton|title=The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02236-8|page=323|url=|language=en}}</ref>

Basilica of San Vitale - Lamb of God mosaic.jpg|[[Byzantine architecture|Byzantine]] - Mosaics with arabesques on a ceiling from the [[Basilica of San Vitale]], [[Ravenna]], [[Italy]]

The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library (2994335291).jpg|[[Renaissance architecture|Renaissance]] - Ceilings decorated with arabesques in the [[Vatican Library]], [[Vatican City]], by [[Domenico Fontana]], 1587-1588<ref>{{cite book|last1=Listri|first1=Massimo|title=The World's Most Beautiful Libraries|date=2020|publisher=Taschen|isbn=978-3-8365-3524-3|page=52|url=|language=}}</ref>

File:Kasteel van Vaux-le-Vicomte - Maincy 06.jpg|[[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] - Gardens at [[Vaux-le-Vicomte]], France, by [[André Le Nôtre]], 1657–1661{{sfn|Bailey|2012|pp=328}}

Detail of the Galerie d'Apollon (14).jpg|Baroque - Arabesques on a door in the [[Galerie d'Apollon]], [[Louvre Palace]], Paris, by [[Louis Le Vau]] and [[Charles Le Brun]], after 1661<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sharman|first1=Ruth|title=Yves Saint Laurent & Art|date=2022|publisher=Thames & Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-02544-4|page=147|url=|language=en}}</ref>

File:1 Tessinska palatset trädgård 2.jpg|Baroque - Garden of the [[Tessin Palace]], [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]], by [[Nicodemus Tessin the Younger]], 1692–1700{{sfn|Bailey|2012|pp=336}}

Eventail plié, 1981.95.91.jpg|[[Neoclassicism|Neoclassical]] - Fan inspired by [[Ancient Roman art|Roman]] frescos in [[Pompeian Styles]], unknown designer and painter, 1780-1800, leather, gouache, ivory, and gilding, [[Musée Galliera]], Paris

Boudoir de la reine, Château de Fontainebleau.jpg|[[Louis XVI style]] - The Boudoir of Marie-Antoinette, [[Palace of Fontainebleau]], [[Fontainebleau]], France, decorated with arabesques in the Pompeiian Style, by the Rousseau brothers, 1785

Pierre Rousseau - Double-Leaf Doors - 1942.2.12 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif|[[Neoclassicism#Architecture and the decorative arts|Neoclassical]] - Door, by [[Pierre Rousseau (architect)|Pierre Rousseau]], 1790s, oil on panel, [[Cleveland Museum of Art]], [[Cleveland]], US

Vase with scenes of storm on land MET DP335261 (cropped).jpg|Neoclassical - vase with scenes of storm on land and arabesques, by the [[Dihl and Guérhard porcelain|Duc d'Angoulême's porcelain factory]], {{circa}}1797-1798, hard-paste porcelain, [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], New York

Boulevard du Temple (Paris), numéro 42, portail 06 grille en fonte.jpg|[[Renaissance Revival architecture|Renaissance Revival]] - [[Cast iron]] door window grill of a building on the [[Boulevard du Temple]] no. 42, Paris, unknown architect, {{circa}}1850

File:Paris 7e 34 rue du Bac 27.JPG|Renaissance Revival - Cast iron door window grill of [[Rue du Bac, Paris|Rue du Bac]] no. 34, Paris, unknown architect, {{circa}}1850

Decorative arts in the Louvre - Room 545 (06).jpg|[[Baroque Revival]] (inspired by those from the [[Louis XIV style]]) - Arabesque panel in the [[Napoleon III]] Apartments of the Louvre Palace, unknown painted and designer, {{circa}}1860
</gallery>