was already accused of being "slow" as things were, imagine if the Meninas had been 1600 times the size it is! And those artists who worked on large scales (paintings on ceilings for example) were drawing at the level of detail needed by someone looking up from the floor - they hadn't expected someone to be looking at their St Michaels and God-almighties nose-to-nose. There are a lot of reasons why artists don't create like the linked to picture. Some have been touched on above. The picture isn't realistic. There is no possible way the subject ever looked like that to the human eye. Perspective is one. The camera was clearly much closer than you would ordinarily stand. There is a significant issue with most reproduced photographs - there is one, and only one, correct viewing distance. Most photographs are not viewed at this distance, and the perspective is actually wrong in a manner that detracts from the result. But we are so used to it that we don't consciously notice it. But the "look" of a photo remains. No human would see the water running like that. The original photograph that has been slavishly copied froze the water in a manner that the human eye does not. The highlights are from the point of view of a single viewpoint - the camera lens. People have two eyes, not one. Again the reflection in the water are frozen in time in a manner the human eye does not see them.