One of the most famous works of art in the world is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. 莱昂纳多·达芬奇的《蒙娜丽莎》是全世界最有名的艺术作品之一。 Nearly everyone who goes to see the original will already be familiar with it from reproductions, but they accept that fine art is more rewardingly viewed in its original form. 几乎每一位去卢浮宫博物馆参观其真迹的观众都已经对其仿品非常熟悉，但他们都一致认为真品具备更高的艺术价值。

However, if Mona Lisa was a famous novel, few people would bother to go to a museum to read the writer's actual manuscript rather than a printed reproduction. 然而，如果《蒙娜丽莎》是一本小说，可能就不会有多少人会放着印刷好的副本不看，而去博物馆参观作者本人当年的手稿了吧。 This might be explained by the fact that the novel has evolved precisely because of technological developments that made it possible to print out huge numbers of texts, whereas oil paintings have always been produced as unique objects. 这一点可能是由于小说发展得足够完善，得益于技术的发展，可以在短期内大批量地印刷出很多册，而油画则一直被认为属于独一无二的艺术品。 In addition, it could be argued that the practice of interpreting or 'reading' each medium follows different conventions. 另外，有观点认为不同媒体的解读方式也不一样。 With novels, the reader attends mainly to the meaning of words rather than the way they are printed on the page, whereas the ‘reader’ of a painting must attend just as closely to the material form of marks and shapes in the picture as to any ideas they may signify. 小说的读者更多的是理解文字传达出来的意义，而非文字在页面上的印刷方式；而油画的欣赏者则更多地关注物质层面的线条和形状所传达的意境。

Yet it has always been possible to make very accurate facsimiles of pretty well any fine art work. 然而，制作出质量精良的一幅美术作品的仿品一直以来都是可行的。 The seven surviving versions of Mona Lisa bear witness to the fact that in the 16th century, artists seemed perfectly content to assign the reproduction of their creations to their workshop apprentices as regular "bread and butter7 work. 现存的《蒙娜丽莎》的七副赝品告诉我们，早在16 世纪，艺术家们就愿意让学徒们临摹他们的原作，然后卖出去以维持生计。 And today the task of reproducing pictures is incomparably more simple and reliable, with reprographic techniques that allow the production of high-quality prints made exactly to the original scale, with faithful colour values, and even with duplication of the surface relief of the painting. 而如今，仿品制作起来则无疑更加简单、可靠，我们拥有更好的复印技术可以做到高度保真，甚至连尺寸、色调以及表面的凹凸感都能仿效得惟妙惟肖。

But despite an implicit recognition that the spread of good reproductions can be culturally valuable, museums continue to promote the special status of original work. 但即使人们隐约意识到高品质的仿品也可以有文化价值，博物馆还是会更推崇真品的鉴赏。

Unfortunately, this seems to place severe limitations on the kind of experience offered to visitors. 不幸的是，这一点会给观众带来极大的某种体验上的局限。

One limitation is related to the way the museum presents its exhibits. 局限之一是博物馆陈列展品的方式。 As repositories of unique historical objects, art museums are often called ' treasure houses'. 作为典藏艺术品的仓库，美术馆经常被称作“宝库”。 We are reminded of this even before we view a collection by the presence of security guards, attendants, ropes and display cases to keep us away from the exhibits. 通常在我们还未看到真迹之前，那些将我们同艺术品隔开的保安、工作人员、安全警示绳和展示柜就在时刻提醒着我们这些展品的无价。 In many cases, the architectural style of the building further reinforces that notion. 很多情况下，建筑的风格更加强调了这种概念。 In addition, a major collection like that of London's National Gallery is housed in numerous rooms, each with dozens of works, any one of which is likely to be worth more than all the average visitor possesses. 此外，像伦敦国家美术馆这样大型的展览馆，无数的陈列室供你参观，每间都陈列着数十件作品，单单一件作品的价值，就可能比一位普通观众的所有财产加起来还要多。 In a society that judges the personal status of the individual so much by their material worth, it is therefore difficult not to be impressed by one's own relative ‘worthlessness’ in such an environment. 在一个物质财富决定个人地位的物欲社会，这种环境很难不让人产生“一文不值”的羞耻感。

Furthermore, consideration of the ‘Value’ of the original work in its treasure house setting impresses upon the viewer that, since these works were originally produced, they have been assigned a huge monetary value by some person or institution more powerful than themselves. 另外，一想到这个“宝库”里那些琳琅满目的艺术品，观众们便都会觉得，既然这是真品，那当初进馆的时候肯定是由比自己更具影响力的某些个人或机构设定了巨大的货币价值。 Evidently, nothing the viewer thinks about the work is going to alter that value, and so today’s viewer is deterred from trying to extend that spontaneous, immediate, self-reliant kind of reading which would originally have met the work. 显然，无论他们对这件作品有什么想法或评价，也不可能改变其价值连城的事实，所以现今的参观者们就不会感兴趣于对艺术品做出那种其实是最需要的天然的、即兴的、独立的解读。

The visitor may then be struck by the strangeness of seeing such diverse paintings, drawings and sculptures brought together in an environment for which they were not originally created. 观众们还有可能会震惊于原本不属于这些素描、油画和雕塑作品的怪异的陈列环境。 This ‘ displacement effect’ is further heightened by the sheer volume of exhibits. 这种“错位效应”还会因为展品的惊人数量而增强。 In the case of a major collection, there are probably more works on display than we could realistically view in weeks or even months. 可能在一场大型展览中的展品数量就会比我们实际上在几周或几个月的时间里看到的还要多。

This is particularly distressing because time seems to be a vital factor in the appreciation of all art forms. 这种体验会非常不舒服，因为在所有艺术形式的鉴赏过程中，时间是一个至关重要的因素。 A fundamental difference between paintings and other art forms is that there is no prescribed time over which a painting is viewed. 油画同其他艺术形式的根本区别在于，在欣赏一幅画作的过程中，是无所谓固定的时间限制的。 By contrast, the audience encounters an opera or a play over a specific time, which is the duration of the performance. 相反，观众在欣赏歌剧或戏剧的时候，时间段上是有始有终的，也即这场演出的持续时间。 Similarly, novels and poems are read in a prescribed temporal sequence, whereas a picture has no clear place at which to start viewings or at which to finish. 同样，小说和诗歌的阅读时间也是定量的，并且是短暂的，而如果欣赏的是一幅美术作品，就没有固定的开始和结束时间了。 Thus art works themselves encourage us to view them superficially, without appreciating the richness of detail and labour that is involved. 因此，我们可能会更容易从表象来观看美术作品，而不会去欣赏其中蕴含的繁复的细节和精力。

Consequently, the dominant critical approach becomes that of the art historian, a specialised academic approach devoted to ‘discovering the meaning’ of art within the cultural context of its time. 正因如此，不论是美术界的主流批判方法还是美术历史学家们的观点，他们采用的是一种专业的、学术的，旨在在当时的文化背景下“发掘艺术的本真意义”的研究方法。 This is in perfect harmony with the museum's function, since the approach is dedicated to seeking out and conserving ‘ authentic’, ‘original’ readings of the exhibits. 这一方法同博物馆的功能是一致的，因为它的目的就是要探寻和维护那种对艺术品的“真实的”“原创性”的解读。 Again, this seems to put paid to that spontaneous, participatory criticism which can be found in abundance in criticism of classic works of literature, but is absent from most art history. 但事实上，这种解读更多见于文学作品的批评中，而在大多数美术作品的批判中是极其缺失的。

The displays of art museums serve as a warning of what critical practices can emerge when spontaneous criticism is suppressed. 美术馆的现状给我们敲响了警钟，让我们得以反思，在自然派的美术批评被压制，真正的美术界批判何时会出现？ The museum public, like any other audience, experience art more rewardingly when given the confidence to express their views. 当博物馆的参观者，能够像其他观众一样，能有自信去发表自己的想法和观点时，参观者才能更好地感受艺术价值。 If appropriate works of fine art could be rendered permanently accessible to the public by means of high-fidelity reproductions, as literature and music already are, the public may feel somewhat less in awe of them. 如果美术作品也能像文学和音乐作品一样，允许高保真的仿品一直流行，公众就不会对它们敬而远之了。 Unfortunately, that may be too much to ask from those who seek to maintain and control the art establishment. 不幸的是，这样的要求对于那些一心要维系和控制美术作品的至高艺术地位的人们来说，可能是太过了。