Michelangelo’s sixteenth-century Sistine Chapel paintings are currently being restored. █ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ████████████████ ████████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ██ ████████████████ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██████ █████████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ██ █████████
The stimulus addresses the restoration of Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel. One of the restorers' goals is to uncover Michelangelo's original work where it has been painted over. To this end, the restorers are removing additions by later artists—except da Volterra, whose additions they're leaving intact.
This seems to be a contradiction: if the restorers want to uncover Michelangelo's original work, why are they leaving alone the additions of one specific artist? To reconcile this decision, we're looking for an answer choice that distinguishes da Volterra from other artists. Not only that, it should tell us how leaving da Volterra's work intact is compatible with uncovering Michelangelo's work.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ ████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████
The restorers believe ████ ██ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████
(A) hits both points we're looking for: it distinguishes da Volterra from other artists, in a way that makes leaving his work intact compatible with uncovering Michelangelo's work. If da Volterra removed all the paint under his additions, none of Michelangelo's work is left to uncover. This explains the decision to leave da Volterra's work alone.
Because da Volterra ████ █ ████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ██ ████████ ███████ ████ ██████████ █████ ███████
(B) may distinguish da Volterra from other artists if they used bolder colors, but it doesn't explain how leaving da Volterra's work is compatible with uncovering Michelangelo's work. Whether da Volterra's paintings are bright or muted, shouldn't they still be removed to reveal the Michelangelo paintings underneath?
Da Volterra’s additions ████ ███████ ██ █ █████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ █████████████
(C) tries to distract us from the restorers' stated goal: to uncover Michelangelo's work. The restorers aren't concerned with the style of other paintings, just who actually painted them. They actively decided to leave da Volterra's work alone, which as far as we know conflicts with their goal of uncovering Michelangelo's painting. (C) doesn't reconcile how that makes sense.
Michelangelo is famous █████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██████████
Regardless of what each artist is known for, the restorers' goal is to uncover Michelangelo's work where other artists painted over it. No matter what da Volterra is best known for, leaving his work alone still seems to conflict with this goal. (D) doesn't help us explain the decision.
Da Volterra’s work ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██ ████████████████ █████
(E) doesn't distinguish da Volterra from the other artists who painted over Michelangelo's work. If several of these artists' work is equally valuable, why is only da Volterra's work being left intact? Without answering that question, (E) can't resolve our confusion.
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