Now painting begins its career in the humble capacity of copyist, a pretty poor copyist at that.

At first so slight was its skill that the rudest symbols sufficed.

"This is a man" was conventionally implied by a few scratches bearing a very distant relationship to the real thing.
Gradually, owing to human vanity and a growing taste, pictures improved.
Combinations were tried, a bit from one place with a piece from another; a sort of mosaic requiring but a slight amount of imagination.

Not that imagination of a higher order has not been called into play, although even now pictures are often happy adaptations rather than creations proper.

Some masters have been imaginative; others, unfortunately for themselves and still more for the public, have not.