Scenes from ancient history had been popular in the early Renaissance, and once again became common in the Baroque and Rococo periods, and still more so with the rise of Neoclassicism.

Although there were some styles that belonged primarily to one nation, such as Palladianism in Great Britain or Louis Quinze in French furniture, others, such as the Rococo and Neoclassicism were perpetuated throughout Western Europe.

The nineteenth century is usually defined by concurrent revival styles, including Gothic, Neoclassicism, Rococo, and the EastHaven Movement.

* Georgian Britain, 1714 – 1837, covering Palladianism, Rococo, Chinoiserie, Neoclassicism, the Regency, the influence of Chinese, Indian and Egyptian styles, and the early Gothic Revival

Neoclassicism is a revival of the styles and spirit of classic antiquity inspired directly from the classical period, which coincided and reflected the developments in philosophy and other areas of the Age of Enlightenment, and was initially a reaction against the excesses of the preceding Rococo style.

European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c. 1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Baroque and Rococo styles.

Pompeo Girolamo Batoni ( 25 January 1708 – 4 February 1787 ) was an Italian painter whose style incorporated elements of the French Rococo, Bolognese classicism, and nascent Neoclassicism.

Neoclassicism in many ways developed as a counter movement of the Rococo, the impetus being a sense of disgust directed towards the latter's florid qualities.

Throughout the 18th century, a counter movement opposing the Rococo sprang up in different parts of Europe, commonly known as Neoclassicism.

Nevertheless, a defining moment for Neoclassicism came during the French Revolution in the late 18th century ; in France, Rococo art was replaced with the preferred Neoclassical art, which was seen as more serious than the former movement.

Konin County ( Powiat Koninski ) contains examples of Romanesque architecture ; Gothic architecture ; Renaissance architecture ; Mannerism and Manneristic architecture ; Baroque architecture ; Rococo art ; architecture of 18th century: Classicism ; architecture of 19th century: Neogothic, Neoromanesque, Neoclassicism, Eclecticism ; architecture of 20th century: Modernism, Nazi architecture, Socialist Realism, Post-modernism.

he was a great figure in his day, around whose modest and kindly personality there waged opposing storms of denunciation and applause, as the Rococo style he embodied was rejected in favor of Neoclassicism ; Charles Othon Frédéric Jean-Baptiste de Clarac asserted that he had delivered a mortal blow at sculpture.

* French Rococo and Neoclassicism

Gabriel's sober rationality in planning and detail promoted the transition from Rococo to Neoclassicism.

Melchior was a transitional figure between Rococo and Neoclassicism.

Neoclassicism was a style which evolved as a contrasting reaction to the more ornate Baroque and Rococo styles which preceded it.

For art and architecture in the 18th century, see French Rococo and Neoclassicism

His paintings were of a Rococo style, but later became more sedate in their approach towards Neoclassicism.

Francois Boucher was the 18th century painter and engraver whose works are regarded as the perfect expression of French taste in the Rococo period.

The style was used in bronze by Bernini for his spectacular St. Peter's baldachin, actually a ciborium ( which displaced Constantine's columns ), and thereafter became very popular with Baroque and Rococo church architects, above all in Latin America, where they were very often used, especially on a small scale, as they are easy to produce in wood by turning on a lathe ( hence also the style's popularity for spindles on furniture and stairs ).

Whilst the styles were similar, there are some notable differences between both Rococo and Baroque architecture, one of them being symmetry, since Rococo emphasised the asymmetry of forms, whilst Baroque was the opposite.

There are numerous examples of Rococo buildings as well as architects.

Solitude Palace in Stuttgart and Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum, the Bavarian church of Wies and Sanssouci in Potsdam are examples of how Rococo made its way into European architecture.

In those Continental contexts where Rococo is fully in control, sportive, fantastic, and sculptured forms are expressed with abstract ornament using flaming, leafy or shell-like textures in asymmetrical sweeps and flourishes and broken curves ; intimate Rococo interiors suppress architectonic divisions of architrave, frieze, and cornice for the picturesque, the curious, and the whimsical, expressed in plastic materials like carved wood and above all stucco ( as in the work of the Wessobrunner School ).

The richest forms of German Rococo are in Catholic Germany ( illustration, above ).

Here, on the Kentian mantel, the crowd of Chinese vases and mandarins are satirically rendered as hideous little monstrosities, and the Rococo wall clock is a jumble of leafy branches.

Even Thomas Gainsborough's ( 1727 – 1788 ) delicate touch and sensitivity are reflective of the Rococo spirit.

Both Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin ( 1699 – 1779 ) and Jean-Baptiste Greuze ( 1725 – 1805 ), were important French painters of the Rococo era who are considered Anti-Rococo.

In regards to larger structures and objects, Rococo might be appealing – although perhaps only because of its baroque roots that eventually become apparent –, but its fantastic overtones and features are not suitable for the large walls of most churches.

" 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.

What sets Rococo apart from Baroque the most is the way the pawns work ; they are called cannonball pawns and move like a King, stepping 1 square in all directions, or leap over any adjacent piece ( friend or foe ).

The pawn formations unique to the parent game, Baroque, already significantly different from traditional chess, are not seen in Rococo.

* French Painters who contributed to the Rococo and Neoclassical period are Boucher, Bouguereau and Jean-Léome Gérôme famous forgotten artists

At first, classicizing decor was grafted onto familiar European forms, as in the interiors for Catherine II's lover Count Orlov, designed by an Italian architect with a team of Italian stuccadori: only the isolated oval medallions like cameos and the bas-relief overdoors hint of neoclassicism ; the furnishings are fully Italian Rococo.

Rococo features like Turkish tents and Chinese bridges are prevalent in French gardens in the 18th century.

The bones are fashioned into decorative displays in the Baroque and Rococo style.

Surviving the fires, are a room at the west end which has panelled walls and a stucco ceiling in Rococo style, and parts of Roscoe's library.

The affinities of Galante style with Rococo in the visual arts are easily overplayed, but characteristics that were valued in both genres were freshness, accessibility and charm.

Some of the prized contents of Scone Palace are Rococo chairs by Pierre Bara, and Dresden and Sèvres porcelains.

On the inside, however, the style is characteristic of classicism: instead of the irregular lively forms typical of Rococo, the proportions of the rooms and wall are typically classical in design.

These buildings are now considered the most important buildings of the late Baroque and Rococo in all of the Rhineland.