The “Paintings” of Philostratos (the elder and the younger) and the “Description of Statues” by Callistratus, which allow us to look at ancient painting and sculpture through the eyes of contemporaries, are one of the few descriptions of masterpieces of ancient art that have survived to this day. Written in brilliant language, highly valued by enlightened readers - from Byzantium and the Renaissance to Goethe and artists of his circle - these books took their rightful place in the history of world culture, asserting the aesthetic equality of the brush, the chisel, the word and preserving the visible image of many lost works. For art critics, historians , students of humanities and readers interested in ancient culture.