in a single work, of elements from different historical styles, chiefly in architecture and, by implication, in the fine and decorative arts. The term is sometimes also loosely applied to the general stylistic variety of 19th-century architecture after neoclassicism , although the revivals of styles in that period have, since the 1970s, generally been referred to as aspects of historicism.

Eclecticism plays an important role in critical discussions and