#1 - Global Reference, Main Point

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (D).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[a.hopp]

Could you explain why A is not the best choice?

I clearly did not read each answer choice closely enough. After reading back over the passage, I know it is not "comparing" Rembrandt with other artists. I think I read calling him an entrepreneur and describing his works as radically distinctive and saying he stood apart from Dutch artists, etc. as differing from other artists, and that is partially why I was attracted to A.

I was primarily focused on his approach being distinctive because of his actual art and because of how he established himself in the marketplace, so I understand why D is a good choice. It seem A and D both communicate that Rembrandt and his art are unique for more than one reason.

Could you explain choices A and D?

[Jeff Wren]

Hi a.hopp,

One of the most important skills tested in the reading comprehension section is the ability to carefully identify different viewpoints within any given passage, and this passage provides a great example of differing viewpoints.

In this passage, the entire second paragraph is from the viewpoint of Svetlana Alpers (who wrote a recent book on Rembrandt), not the author of the passage. In fact, the passage is actually written as a response to Alpers' arguments, with which the author largely disagrees. The textual clues in the second paragraph that these arguments are Alpers' (not the author's) are words like "Alpers argues," "Alpers takes the view," "she claims," "she argues," etc..

We don't really learn how the author feels about Alpers' arguments until the third paragraph, where the author responds to Alpers' claims.

The first sentence of paragraph three states, "Although there may be some truth in the view that Rembrandt was an entrepreneur who made some aesthetic decisions on the basis of what he knew the market wanted, Alpers' emphasis on economic factors sacrifices discussion of the aesthetic qualities that make Rembrandt's work unique" (lines 32-37). This sentence shows the author's mostly negative view of Alpers' claims, namely that while there may be some truth to them, they are incomplete.

The final sentence of the passage nicely captures the author's main point: "The trouble is that while Rembrandt's artistic enterprise may indeed not be reducible to the works he painted himself, it is not reducible to marketing practices either" (lines 55-58). In other words, there is more to Rembrandt than his desire to make money.

Answer D correctly restates this idea.

Answer A is really stating Alpers' argument, which the author of the passage doesn't entirely agree with.