The arabesque and the grotesque seem to be two opposite ideas, one related to the beautiful, the other to the ugly. Yet both of their origins lie in antiquity. The arabesque, or rococo ornament, stems from the French word rocaille, rock or shell. In antiquity, shells were used to decorate grottoes. The name grotesque was based on the word grotto. Yet the grotesque applies to a fascination with the monstrous formations also found in these spaces.

Even though the central premise of these two styles differs tremendously, they share a visual vocabulary. For example, Giovanni Battista Piranesi's Grotteschi Series features ideas of the monstrous intermingling with the curves of shell-like or rococo formations. Jean Mondon's designs for pattern books uses the arabesque to depict the aristocratic garden and figures, while the grotesque distorts the architectural cartouches and invades the composition with strange creatures.

Through it all, imagination is ever present. Whether it takes the form of the beautiful or the monstrous, the result is purely fantastical.