> The word transformative was put there in a time of manual transformative processes, like when you paint something similar to what you saw in a painting by another artist

Do you have any citation that that is how the word "transformation" was understood historically? Because what your suggesting seems to be the opposite of what i've read.

My understanding is even back in the 1800s (e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_v._Marsh ) your example would not be considered transformative, if your intention was to make a similar painting to serve a similar purpose.