[Rembrandt_fan]

You're right, the buy-a-camera line is a copout, but only because I didn't want to get into the abstract vs. realism argument. While not an educator, I think art students should be taught sound draftsmanship fundamentals; i.e., perspective, shading, basic anatomy, and so on, but for me, personally, artistically, I get no creative satisfaction from nor do I measure the completeness of a work by how well the piece looks like the real thing. As a matter of personal taste, I can't stand the work of Pre-Raphaelites. Holman Hunt, for example, makes me cringe. Again, we're talking personal tastes, here. Some people love Holman Hunt's work. (shudder)

[AnAmericanMother]

I like some of the pre-Raphaelites, but not because they are representational (quite the contrary - I suppose you could call it hyper-realism, but it isn't really. It's almost hallucinatory.)

The one I REALLY can't stand is Rosetti, because he can neither draw nor handle perspective. More or less a poseur.

But Holman Hunt has his moments.