Late Antique basilicas featured simple exteriors and axially-planned layouts, while Gothic cathedrals emphasized verticality, light, and elaborate decoration.

Romanesque architecture used rounded arches and rib vaults, while Gothic architecture employed pointed arches and flying buttresses for greater height and light.

Northern Renaissance focused on detail, realism, and religious symbolism, while Italian High Renaissance emphasized idealized forms, classical themes, and sfumato.

Renaissance painting used balanced and diffused light, while Baroque painting used dramatic contrasts of light and dark (tenebrism) to create emotional impact.

Byzantine mosaics used tesserae to create shimmering surfaces, while Romanesque painting used vibrant colors outlined in black with exaggerated features.

It adapted the Roman basilica, a public building, for Christian worship, retaining the basic layout but modifying it for religious purposes.

It continued using mosaics but developed new techniques like pendentives to support domes and emphasized spiritual, ethereal qualities.

Mannerism rejected the balance and harmony of the High Renaissance, favoring elongated figures, distorted forms, and artificial colors.

While still valuing realism, it embraced drama, emotion, and movement, often using tenebrism and dynamic compositions.

It combines Spanish Baroque techniques with indigenous motifs and artistic practices, creating a syncretic style that reflects the colonial context.

Reused architectural elements in Late Antique structures.

Small pieces of colored glass or stone used in Byzantine mosaics.

The filling of spaces with designs in Islamic art.

A metalworking technique involving metal around colored areas, common in Medieval art.

Dramatic light/dark contrasts in Baroque painting.

The combination of different cultural traditions, especially in New Spain art.