Nostalgia ?

From the "beauty of dying" series

My modern wedding looking old. But why?

Was selling a picture of sunflower the other day. When asked to select between a canvas print with somewhat faded colors and the sharper,  more vivid archival digital print, he opted for the older look and feel...predictable response.
It keeps bugging me - why people insist that canvas prints are "better" than more define, sharper, more expressive prints on good paper? The answer is usually: "because it looks and feels like painting". And what is so amazing about that, I never understood. Photograph is not the painting, and looking back with the sigh at old painting is not my idea of progress or creativity. Why look back, when so many amazing options for expression and creating new types of art are opening up for photographers.