Aesthetic judgment is often thought authentic only when based on direct personal experience, making reliance on testimony seem like borrowed taste. Yet testimony can do more than transmit a verdict. It can direct attention, supply context, and identify features a viewer might otherwise miss. A museum guide who notes how repeated diagonal lines create instability does not require visitors to like the painting. The comment can alter what they notice while leaving evaluation open. The example refines aesthetic testimony from deference to another's preference into mediated access to reasons and perceptual possibilities. Critics can therefore use testimony responsibly when they distinguish invitations to see from commands to adopt a conclusion.