But medieval tradition provides the Venus statue story, where the statue itself is the focus of Gothic horror, in Eichendorff, James, Mérimée, Gautier, and others this, especially in the subtler artist parables, is the key nineteenth-century usage. Eighteenth-century neoclassicism provides 'classically' serene artifacts to contrast with 'Gothic' ones in, for instance, Poe and Hawthorne. Classical artifacts, particularly busts and statues, play an important part as image, symbol, plot element, or even character, in a large number of 'Gothic' (i.e., romantic horror) contexts.
