What is "plateresque"

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

a. Pertaining to an ornate style of architecture of 16th century Spain suggestive of silver plate.

Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (Plata means silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, traditionally held to be exclusive to Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance in the late 15th century, and spread over the next two centuries. It is a modification of Gothic spatial concepts and an eclectic blend of Mudéjar, Flamboyant Gothic and Lombard decorative components, as well as Renaissance elements of Tuscan origin. Examples of this syncretism are the inclusion of shields and pinnacles on facades, columns built in the Renaissance neoclassical manner, and facades divided into three parts (in Renaissance architecture they are divided into two). It reached its peak during the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, especially in Salamanca, but also flourished in other cities of the Iberian Peninsula as León and Burgos and in the territory of New Spain, which is now Mexico. Plateresque has been considered down to current times a Renaissance style by many scholars. To others, it is its own style, and sometimes receives the designation of Protorenaissance. Some even call it First Renaissance in a refusal to consider it as a style in itself, but to distinguish it from non-Spanish Renaissance works.

The style is characterized by ornate decorative facades covered with floral designs, chandeliers, festoons, fantastic creatures and all sorts of configurations. The spatial arrangement, however, is more clearly Gothic-inspired. This fixation on specific parts and their spacing, without structural changes of the Gothic pattern, causes it to be often classified as simply a variation of Renaissance style. In New Spain the Plateresque acquired its own configuration, clinging tightly to its Mudéjar heritage and blending with Native American influences. A Plateresque style could also be said to have developed in the first decades of the 16th century in southern France and Portugal.

In the 19th century with the rise of historicism, the Plateresque architectural style was revived under the name of Monterrey Style.