This thread pops up like a ghost from the past just like the 'Grottesche', where the word comes from, were dug up from the underground:

The name Grottesche, like Benvenuto Cellini explains in his autobiography, comes from the grottos of the Esquilino hills in Rome that were in fact the underground remains of the Domus aurea of Nero, discovered in 1480 and immediately becoming a popular item for the painters of that time, who took the challenge to study the fanciful, bizarre rediscovered paintings.

grottesche

Just to add something to the Etymology of wwh's first post in 2004 . Gargoyles are grotesqe but the word come from gargouille, Old French for throat. Grotesqe from 'grottesche'.

* Do I see zmejhz here in before the metamorphosis?*