In art history, the term historicism refers to a widespread phenomenon in the later 19th and early 20th centuries, in which architects and artists preferred to draw on styles from past centuries.
Stylistic subtypes are, for example, Neo-Romanesque, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Byzantine and Neo-Baroque. Around 1900, the emerging Art Nouveau style sometimes exerted a recognisable influence on Historicism. At the same time, moderate reform architecture was formed, a counter-movement that later led to classical modernism.
The most formative period for historicism extended from around 1850 until before the First World War. Historicist motifs continued to have an impact in later decades. Examples of this are neoclassicism, socialist classicism or Heimatschutz architecture.