16Hit1600
Information and IdeasVery hardCentral idea of a passage on attribution

Information and Ideas practice question

For a century the portrait was attributed to a pupil of the master, on the grounds that its handling was too loose for the master himself. Recent cleaning removed a layer of yellowed varnish and a set of nineteenth-century retouchings, and the handling beneath is as tight as anything in the master's accepted work. The attribution to the pupil, it now appears, rested on the condition of the painting rather than on the painting itself.

Which choice best states the main idea of the text?

  1. A. The portrait's earlier attribution to a pupil was based on later damage and additions, not on the original painting, which now looks like the master's own work.Correct
  2. B. The pupil was a better painter than the master.
  3. C. Cleaning the portrait damaged it.
  4. D. The portrait was painted in the nineteenth century.

Answer: A. The portrait's earlier attribution to a pupil was based on later damage and additions, not on the original painting, which now looks like the master's own work.

Varnish and retouching misled a century of judgement.

Why the other answers are wrong

B. The pupil was a better painter than the master.
Not suggested.
C. Cleaning the portrait damaged it.
Cleaning revealed the original handling.
D. The portrait was painted in the nineteenth century.
The retouchings were nineteenth-century; the painting is older.

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