Passage #10- Viewpoint and Attitude Identification Drill

[shanikaduverneau]

Hi! I'm having a little bit of trouble with understanding the key in relation to my results for this passage. I understand that lines 15-18 are introducing the experts' position. However, I'm a bit confused on who I should relate lines 18-32 to. My assumption was that this was further elaboration of what the expert's main point was (David's provenance having nothing to do with Soderini). The key said that it mention the Operai's purpose for commissioning the piece, but is this an entirely separate point of view?

[Jon Denning]

Good questions! My take here is that the experts' view ("the consensus among experts") is introduced in line 15/16, and then what follows is simply the evidence upon which their view is based: namely, the documents found in 1476 (line 19) and in 1501 (line 33) which contradict Vasari's claims in the first paragraph. Finally, in lines 34-35 as the passage concludes, we get the author's view, which agrees with the experts: "Vasari's earlier accounts were factually incorrect." Note that the author's phrase "leaving no doubt" (line 34) expresses their personal opinion on the matter and is the first explicit instance in the entire passage where the author's view can be clearly determined. Prior to that it was simply reporting the claims and beliefs of others, from Vasari to the experts.

So in short:

Lines 15-16 state the experts' consensus/view
Lines 18-34 provide the evidence the experts based their opinion on
Lines 34-35 show the author agreeing with the experts