hagiography . study of saints.

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)