Although the appellation 'Plateresque' is usually applied to the act of superimposing new Renaissance elements on forms governed by medieval guidelines in architecture, this trend is also seen in the Spanish painting and sculpture of the time.
Številne plateresco stavbe so že bile zgrajene, in so jim dodali le plasti renesančnega okrasja, še posebej okoli odprtin (oken in vrat) in na splošno, vsem nearhitekturnim elementom, z nekaterimi izjemami.