Eclecticism is a kind of mixed style in the
fine arts: "the borrowing of a variety of
styles from different sources and combining them" . Significantly, Eclecticism hardly ever constituted a specific style in
art: it is characterized by the fact that it was not a particular style. In general, the term describes the combination in a single work of a variety of influences—mainly of elements from different historical styles in
architecture,
painting, and the
graphic and
decorative arts. In
music the term used may be either
eclecticism or
polystylism.