When modern (Western) viewers look at ancient art, the first feature of the image that is often assessed is its relationship to ‘reality’. How ‘real’ the image looks is inextricably linked to its evaluation and therefore the viewer’s estimation of its quality. The more ‘realistic’ an image is deemed, the more it is appreciated for its historic and aesthetic value. This fixation on reality has often affected the assessment of ancient imagery. It can create a bias that limits the researcher’s ability to analyse and interpret the image(s) to their full potential. When studying ancient images, the viewer should always keep in mind its original purpose. Rather than looking for reality through the notion of resemblance, the degree of reality should instead be assessed through the way the subject is being conveyed as the image’s purpose dictates its appearance. This article will use depictions of the horse in ancient Egyptian and Greek art to highlight some of the challenges one encounters when studying ancient images’ relationship with reality. It will show why it is important for scholars to focus on the image/object’s purpose, their resemblance to their subject, and their meaning in terms of the message(s) they are meant to convey.

中文翻译：

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现实主义作为古希腊和埃及艺术中马匹描绘的表现策略：目的如何影响外观

当现代（西方）观众观看古代艺术时，通常评估图像的第一个特征是它与“现实”的关系。图像看起来有多“真实”与它的评价密不可分，因此也与观众对其质量的估计有关。一幅图像被认为越“逼真”，它的历史和美学价值就越受到赞赏。这种对现实的执着常常影响了对古代意象的评价。它会产生一种偏见，限制研究人员分析和解释图像的全部潜力的能力。在研究古代图像时，观看者应该始终牢记其原始目的。与其通过相似的概念寻找真实，真实程度应该通过传达主题的方式来评估，因为图像的目的决定了它的外观。本文将使用古埃及和希腊艺术中对马的描绘来强调人们在研究古代图像与现实的关系时遇到的一些挑战。它将说明为什么学者们必须关注图像/物体的目的、它们与主题的相似性以及它们在它们要传达的信息方面的意义。