Classical antique forms, rationality, and asymmetry.
MOTIFS
Vases, urns, Greek key, palmettes (shape of palm leaf), husks, fasces (decorative motif of a bound bundle of rods often incorporating the head of an axe, the emblem of authority of the magistrates in ancient Rome), trophies, sphinxes, laurel wreaths, Classical architectural orders.
ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT
Reaction to the excesses of Rococo: interest in the styles of ancient Greece and Rome stimulated by the Grand Tour and by excavations of sites such as Herculaneum (1738) and Pompeii (1748): developed into the Louis XVI, Federal (North America), Etruscan, Regency, and Empire styles.
