Why would a wealthy benefactor pay a small fortune to a painter when he could get a more accurate, less expensive and far more "high-tech" photograph? Why would a rich adventurer bring a painter when he could commision a photographer?
If painting didn't evolve into abstaction or fantasy, it would have vanished as a relevant art form.
A valid point... but why hire an artist to make something that you can make simply by coating two horny male cats with paint and throwing them on a canvas to fight... why hire an artist to do that which your 13 year old child to do?
Because there is something more in a painted portrait than just high tech accuracy. Wealthy benefactors continue today to commission paintings for many thousands of dollars. Some portraitists, for instance, get upwards of $30,000 per portrait. The wealthy benefactors also have photographs, but for the moment, photographs and paintings are not the same thing. Maybe they will be in the future, maybe some day painting and drawing skills will no longer be appreciated and will die out. I can well imagine that, but it hasn't happened yet.