Art across time and space

Check out these pictures.

The first is from the Lascaux Cave in France, and is estimated to be about 17,300 years old.  The second was painted on a jar in Greece around 520 BC.  The third was made in Italy in 1338.  The fourth was also made in Italy in 1511.  Why do they all look so different?  Compare these to the following:

The first was painted in China in 1294.  The second was painted in Japan in 1793.  These paintings look really different from the European paintings shown above.  Why?

I'm assuming that one goal of art is representation.  None of subjects in any of these paintings really look anything like the people that you see directly with your own eyes.  Why is that?  Are these depictions supposed to convey something more than mere representation?  What else is included?