I mean, you take one look at Greek statues and Roman busts and you realize that people figured how to aim for realism, at least when it came to the human body and faces, over 2000 years ago.
Yet, unlike sculpture, paintings and drawings remained, uh, “immature” for centuries afterwards (to my limited knowledge, it was the Italian Renaissance that started making realistic paintings). Why?
Because art history defines art by specific styles which were popular during that period. Realistic art has existed for far longer. As have most things which we are brainwashed into believing were only invented around the enlightenment period, such as evolution.