16Hit 1600
Information and IdeasVery hardInference about ultramarine pigment

Information and Ideas practice question

Ultramarine, ground from lapis lazuli carried overland from Afghanistan, cost more than gold in Renaissance Italy. Contracts for altarpieces often specified — and priced — exactly where it could be used, and painters reserved it for the robes of the Virgin and other sacred figures. Knowing this, art historians argue that a swath of ultramarine that ____

Which choice most logically completes the text?

  1. A. reads as devotion also functioned as a public display of the patron's wealth.Correct
  2. B. shows that Renaissance painters disliked using less expensive colors.
  3. C. proves that lapis lazuli was mined in Italy during the Renaissance.
  4. D. indicates that blue was considered an unattractive color for backgrounds.

Answer: A. reads as devotion also functioned as a public display of the patron's wealth.

Because contracts priced ultramarine separately and reserved it for sacred figures, a blue robe signaled both piety and the patron's ability to pay — devotion doubling as a display of wealth.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. shows that Renaissance painters disliked using less expensive colors.
Painters' personal color preferences are never discussed; contracts set the terms.
C. proves that lapis lazuli was mined in Italy during the Renaissance.
The text says the stone came from Afghanistan, not Italy.
D. indicates that blue was considered an unattractive color for backgrounds.
The text says blue marked the most honored figures, the opposite of unattractive.

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