Mimesis
Etymology
From Greek "mīmēsis" ("imitation"), from "mīmeisthai" ("to imitate"). It anchors classical aesthetics: Plato distrusted mimesis as a copy of a copy in the "Republic," while Aristotle defended it in the "Poetics" as natural and instructive. An ancient term, not a modern coinage.
noun · /mih-MEE-sis/
The representation or imitation of reality in art.
What it names
The foundational term for art-as-imitation, useful whenever you want to ask what a work is copying, and how faithfully.
Example
Renaissance painting prized mimesis so highly that a grape rendered well enough to fool a bird counted as triumph.
Related idea
Compare verisimilitude, the mere appearance of truth; mimesis is the broader project of imitation, of which verisimilitude is one measure of success.