The interesting thing about old paintings is that they are not “photorealistic”. They don’t replicate photos, as they weren’t invented yet. They paint reality,

The interesting thing about old paintings is that they are not “photorealistic”. They don’t replicate photos, as they weren’t invented yet. They paint reality, as seen by the naked eye. When seeing some of the portraits of the great masters in a museum, at real scale, with your own eyes, the effect is profound, as you perceive that it works in a very different way than a photography.