[simonh]

Paintings are actualy three dimensional objects. They consist of layers of paint with varying thicknesses, transparecies, texture and even shape from the brush bristles. The only way to recreate it would be by layering at the molecular level, and even then you'd need to know exactly what molecules are where inside the structure of the paint before you could duplicate it. We don't even have the analystical tools to do that, let alone the manufacturing ones.

And then of course there's the fact that not all art is paintings and photographs.