If the artwork wasn't made by the artist, it loses the connection to the person we're there to admire.
If this wasn't true, you could have local museums with perfect replicas of the Mona Lisa and hundreds of other masterpieces. But no audience would show up for that. Instead they travel across the world to see the Mona Lisa that da Vinci himself touched, through a thick and reflecting piece of glass and at a distance.
If the artwork wasn't made by the artist, it loses the connection to the person we're there to admire.
If this wasn't true, you could have local museums with perfect replicas of the Mona Lisa and hundreds of other masterpieces. But no audience would show up for that. Instead they travel across the world to see the Mona Lisa that da Vinci himself touched, through a thick and reflecting piece of glass and at a distance.