Art was never primarily about realistic mimicking of nature, even if some subset of it in some cultures may have temporarily appeared to be.
For most of Western art's history, content and style were both dictated by the patron. Even the ideas we hold around art and freedom of artistic license had to wait until the 1800s and the Salon de Refusé to come into existence.
Most buyers and makers of art today still gravitate toward figurative drawing and naturalistic landscapes. It seems like we have always used art primarily to reflect and comment on the real world.
In most simple terms, the oscillation between vaguely “metaphysical” (imaginary, romantic) and vaguely “physical” (realistic) approach has occurred for a long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk5EJd7S2uA
Look at this example, it's just beginning.