a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem.

brazen

bold and without shame.

"That zero panorama seemed to contain ruins in reverse, that is—all the new construction that would be built. This is the opposite of the "unromantic ruin" because buildings don't fall into ruin after they are built but rather rise into ruin before they are built." Robert Smithson, "A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey"

baroque

sequentially increasing opulence.

(iii) Michelangelo

Intelligence and passion; there is no art without emotion, no emotion without passion. Stones are dead things sleeping in the quarries but the apses of St. Peter’s are a drama. Drama lies all round the key achievements of humanity. (Le Corbuser, Towards a New Architecture, 152)

ostensibly (M and J, both in the same day)

1. outwardly appearing as such; professed; pretended
2. apparent, evident or conspicuous

-apparently, on the face of it, seemingly, superficially

(the facade study as application, palazzo rucellai)
(the urban face-lift, questions of authenticity, santa fe)

vanity (a thing to be held)

1. excessive pride in one’s appearance, qualities abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit: Failure to be elevted was a great blow to his vanity.

2.  an instance or display of this quality or feeling.

3.  something about which one is vain

4. lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness; the vanity of a selfish life

5.  something worthless, trivial, or pointless.

6.  vanity case

7.  dressing table

8.  a wide, counterlike shelf containg a wash basin, as in the bathroom of a hotel or residence, often equicpped with shelves, drawers, etc., underneath

9.  a cabinet built below or around a bathroom sink, primarily to hide exposed pipes

10.  compact

11.  produces as a showcase for one’s own talents, escpecially as a writer, actor, singer, or composer;  a vnity production

12.  of, pertaining to, or issued by a vanity press:   a spate of vanity books

syonyms

egostism, complacency, vainglory, ostentation, pride, emptiness, sham, unreality, folly, triviality, futility

antonyms

humility