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The most important evidence on this matter comes from the Eikones (“paintings”) by Philostratus the Elder. Here, the Greek author, an art critic of the 3rd cent. AD, imagines 65 panel paintings which look like specimens of painting his contemporaries could have seen. Using these fictional paintings as his examples, he discusses theoretical questions of art, paying a lot of attention to the question of how time can be implemented and recognized in a painting. Being one of the most famous rhetoricians of his time, he presents his thoughts on this issue in an engaging way. For what distinguishes the Eikones from both ancient and modern treatises on art is the way in which they communicate with the reader: Philostratus interacts with his audience not from the position of the teacher of art, but from the perspective of the co-viewer, albeit a highly educated one. He does not patronize his audience by telling them what they should see on the painting, but illustrates what one does actually see and how this is to be interpreted.
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