<前言>

沒有任何承諾的Bella，她不匿名，但Janet接住了一張「去Bella化」的早晨迷因，並改變一張電腦生成圖原本的製作方式——由數位科技回歸到紙本技術，重新凝視與描述一些超普通/超越普通的圖像。

版畫家卡羅爾·瓦克斯 (Carol Wax 1953-) 自1980年代中期開始研究美柔汀的技術史，當機械複製時代達到前所未有之樂觀時，美柔汀的印刷工藝、傳播技術及著作權等討論仍然相當狹窄，在瓦克斯的研究方法論中，浪漫主義時期至維多利亞時期的版畫技術，將首度與當代的圖像危機接嵌[1]。

Janet對美柔汀超像真的表面功能是遲疑的，因為她在「現實」總是無法真正擁有數位圖像，觸發她費力地將記憶顯影和存放。自機械革命在1884年迫不及待與美柔汀工藝告別，成本更低廉的資訊時差迎來民主，肖像不需要再回憶，害怕已永久擁有的記憶體消失，一種妄自菲薄的技術主義恐懼，令Janet再度成為數位圖像的複製員 (Copyist) [2]。

[1] 《美柔汀：其歷史與技術》（1990）：瓦克斯以 1771 年至 1889 年鮮為人知的德國美柔汀印刷作為研究的基本材料，並查考發展初期的美柔汀技術如何被紙張及油墨類型所影響，介紹這項印刷發明在十八至十九世紀的歐洲具有龐大的商業意義，及推動油畫的圖像範式。

[2] 此處參考《美柔汀：其歷史與技術》內第五章〈美柔汀與商業出版〉(Mezzotint and the Business of Publishing)所闡述的美柔汀商業印刷之原創性問題。卡羅爾·瓦克斯描述了商業美柔汀印刷的版權立法與鑑定行業之關係。為了保障出版商及其原創性(originality)的收益，英格蘭在1735至1777年間三度調整「霍加斯法案」(The Hogarth Act)，以求壓制非法盜版的銅版畫複製品。但依舊猖獗的盜版名畫複製市場，令鑑定行業催生。複製員和藝術家分工清晰，如複製員作為非原創性的作者，必須於銅版畫面以下空白中間位置，跟隨原畫作者名字其後，寫上delineavit, delin., del. 等的附加語，以便鑑定師識辨作品的創作擁有者。

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[Translated version]

<Preface>

Bella, with no commitments, is not anonymous, but Janet grabbed a "de-Bellaficated" morning meme and altered the original production method of a computer-generated image. She shifted from digital to paper-based techniques to re-looking and describing some extraordinary/"extra" ordinary images.

Printmaker Carol Wax (1953-) initiated her own research into the historical techniques of Mezzotint in the mid-1980s. Amid the unprecedented optimism of the mechanical reproduction era, discussions on Mezzotint's printing procedure, dissemination strategies, and copyright are embedded in Wax's methodological approach, linking the Romanticism and Victorian era printmaking technology with contemporary image crises for the first time[1].

Janet hesitates about the super-realistic ornamental of Mezzotints because, in reality, she cannot truly own any digital images or data, triggering her laborious development and endless preservation of memory. Since the machinery revolution impatiently bid farewell to Mezzotinters in 1884, the lower-cost information age embraced democracy. Portraitures no longer need to be memorialized. Due to the terrority of the accidental loss of permanent memory storage devices, Janet suffers a technological fear of belittlement, which makes her become a copyist of digital images[2].

[1] The Mezzotint: History and Technique (1990): Wax’s exploitation of little-known German publications dating from 1771 and 1889 to expand on familiar historical accounts and her investigation of the impact of such technological developments as steel plates on the artist's technique, types of paper and ink, and the characteristics of the resulting images. To grasp the artistic and commercial implications of such an invention is to understand the magnitude of the impact of mezzotint.

[2] Reference is made here to the original context in Chapter V, "Mezzotint and the Business of Publishing" in The Mezzotint: History and Technique (1990), regarding copperplate commercial printing. Carol Wax explains the relationship between Copyright Legislation and Connoisseurship in commercial copperplate printing. To guarantee the profits of printers and their originality, England adjusted "The Hogarth Act" three times between 1735 and 1777, aiming to suppress illegal pirated engraved reproductions of paintings or original designs. Despite this, rampant piracy in the market led to the emergence of connoisseurship, with clear divisions of authorship between copyists and artists. Copyists, as non-original makers, had to put their names below the plate margin, following the original artist's name, and adding phrases such as "delineavit," "delin.," or "del."

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