Art Reboot

82 indistinguishable, all that would be diminished in the studio copy would be a degree of subsequent respect and, therefore, commercial value. But if the original had been destroyed and all that remained was the studio copy, loss of respect would be greatly diminished. Imagine that the original and any studio copy were lost but there survived a later copy nothing to do with Botti- celli’s workshop. In the absence of the original, and any studio copy, it would still connect us to Botticelli’s original and carry some level of its meaning. Even at second hand we could respond to aspects of Botticelli’s artistic vision. To the Chinese, who have long recognised the governance of process over product, relative authenticity is effectively absorbed into practice. Chinese artists often learnt through copying, and over the centuries many of these works have survived, often where originals have not, and these too carry meaning. Museums the world over have masterpieces of Chinese painting ‘attributed to’ or ‘in the style of ’ earlier masters. In the West, until very recently, any work found to be a copy was consigned to storage in embarrassment. In Chinese culture such a work is more likely to be relabelled and approached with continuing respect. The famous painting by Huang Gongwang (1269–1354), Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains , was copied over and over by many serious artists. Some signed their own names, infusing an existing composition with independent expression through indi- vidual brushwork character. Some did not, and some probably had their honest signatures removed to be replaced by fake sig- natures claiming Huang’s authorship. Consider two versions that have been known for many centuries. One that the Qianlong