PT18.S2.Q21 - it is very difficult to prove

han.yuezhou

Hi there,
I am so confused about this problem and have no idea about whats it talking about.
What does "This fact gives the traditional attribution of a disputed painting special weight" mean and how do we strengthen the opposite of it?
https://7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-18-section-2-question-21/

LSATisland

Hi @han.yuezhou

The stimulus basically says that there are these old paintings where you can't figure out who made them (i.e. you can't "attribute" the painting to a specific artist). However, even though our present analysis of the painting wouldn't point to a specific artist, all these paintings have an accepted artist - an artist that is traditionally assumed to have made the painting. The argument of the stimulus is that since it is hard through present analysis to determine the artist behind the painting, we should put great stock in the traditional attribution, i.e. the traditional assumption re: who made the painting.

Answer (A) challenges this argument (i.e. supports the opposite position: "that the traditional attribution of a disputed painting should not have special weight").

Answer (A) says that when art dealers came across these unsigned paintings, they just chose to claim that the paintings were made by famous artists, instead of unknown artists. They made these claims because they knew the paintings would be worth more, not because they thought it was historically accurate. Hence, the traditional assumptions of attribution are the result of these greedy claims.

This supports the argument that these traditional assumptions of attribution should not be given special weight, since they were formed from the greedy motives of the art dealers, without regard to historical accuracy.