Self-study
Until recently, experts have been unable to identify the artist who created a Renaissance painting depicting aristocrats in a historic battle. ███ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █ █████████████ ██ █ ██████████ ██████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ███████ █████████ ███ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that it’s likely the artist who painted a particular self-portrait was also the artist who painted a particular Renaissance painting depicting aristocrats in a historic battle. This conclusion is based on the fact that the self-portrait is dated to the same year that the other painting was dated, and that one of the figures depicted in the battle scene looks very similar to the person in the self-portrait.
Notable Assumptions
The argument assumes that if a self-portrait is dated to the same year that another painting was dated, and one of the figures in the other painting closely resembles the person in the self-portrait, then the same artist painted both paintings. The argument also assumes that the figure that closely resembles the artist in the battle scene painting is supposed to represent the artist.
24.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
The painting of ███ ██████ █████ ███████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████████
This has no clear impact on the argument. Other figures of similar ages doesn’t suggest that the same artist who painted the self-portrait would or would not have painted the battle scene.
b
Most of the ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████████ ████ ██████ ████ ████████
So, most figures in the battle scene painting look like real people. But the artist who painted the self portrait was also a real person, so there’s nothing in (B) suggesting that artist wouldn’t have included a representation of himself in the battle scene.
c
It was not ████████ ██ ███ ███████████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██████ ██ █████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████
This says that painters used human references, but that doesn’t mean the painted figures were full-on portraits of the models. (The models could have just been used to help painters draw body shapes or positions accurately.) Even if we assume that the painted figures were outright portraits of the models, for (C) to weaken the argument, we’d then have to assume that the painter in the self-portrait was a model for the battle scene. And we have no reason to believe the painter was also a model.
Failed alternate explanation
Failed alternate explanation
Weaken Qs: Answers that try to introduce an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to explain a different phenomenon.
Strengthen Qs: Answers that try to eliminate an alternate explanation, but fall short, or try to eliminate an explanation for a different phenomenon.
d
It would have ████ █ █████████ ██ █████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ██████ ██ ███████ ███████ █████ ███████████ ██ █ ████████ ██ █ ████████ ███████
This provides a reason to think the painter would not have included himself in the battle scene painting: including himself would have violated etiquette. Yes, we need to assume that the painter followed etiquette for (D) to weaken the argument. But this is a less arbitrary assumption to rely on than what the other answer choices would require. By definition, etiquette is customary. It’s something that society pressures people to conform to. So while (D) doesn’t powerfully weaken the argument, it does weaken.
Plausibility
Plausibility
Presenting evidence that corroborates (in Strengthen) or conflicts (in Weaken) with the author's hypothesized explanation or the predictions that follow from that explanation.
e
The historic battle ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ █████ █ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████████████
Painters can paint scenes of battles that occurred many years ago. We have no reason to think the year the historic battle occurred has to be the same year the painting of that battle was made.