This history of responses to the work of the artist Sandro Botticelli

The best answer is C because it is the only title that states the central theme of the passage, which is the history of the change in the response to the work of Botticelli, from unpopularity to approbation. This theme is made particularly clear in lines 1-4, 8-10, and 66-67. There are also repeated references to this theme throughout the body of the passage



The best answer is D. In lines 63-65 the author states that "Horne's emphasis on the way a talented artist reflects a tradition yet moves beyond that tradition" is "an emphasis crucial to any study of art." The word "crucial" indicates that the author would be likely to find a study that "analyzed the artist's work in terms of both traditional characteristics and unique achievement" (choice D) to be most beneficial.




The best answer is E. Vasari's views are described in lines 4-8, which imply that Vasari was uneasy about Botticelli's work because it did not Et Vasari's evolutionary scheme of the history of art. Thus, it can be inferred that, had Botticelli's work been easier to include in Vasari's discussion of art history, Vasari would probably have been more enthusiastic about Botticelli's work.




The best answer is E. The sentence in lines 16-18 appears in parentheses, suggesting that the author is commenting on or qualifying what immediately precedes this sentence. Thus, the purpose of the parenthetical statement is determined by the sentence preceding it. In lines 11-15, the author asserts that Botticelli's work remained "outside of accepted taste." The author then offers the comment in parentheses: in lines 16-18, using "however" as a qualifier, the author mentions the obscure location of many of Botticelli's best paintings, implying that much of the best of Botticelli's work was not available for viewing. Thus, the author suggests "a reason why, for a period of time, Botticelli's work was not generally appreciated.' '




The best answer is B (II only). I is incorrect because lines 8-16 indicate that most seventeenth-, eighteenth-, and early- nineteenth-century art historians agreed on the artistic value of Botticelli's work - they all denigrated it. Choice III is wrong because the lines that discuss the features that characterized fifteenth-century Florentine art (lines 20-28) do not suggest that most seventeenth- and eighteenth-century academic art historians would have disagreed with most early- nineteenth-century antiacademic art historians about these features. Choice II is correct because lines 11-14 state that "antiacademic art historians of the early nineteenth century rejected many of the standards of evaluation espoused by
their predecessors."



The best answer is A. Lines 32-37 describe Botticelli's use of classical style and subject matter. They state that large-scale classical subjects were the focus of Botticelli's painting and that he borrowed little from the classical style. Thus it can be inferred that Botticelli used classical subject matter more often than he used classical style.



The best answer is C. Lines 53-62 describe Horne 's views about Botticelli 's Sistine frescoes. According to lines 53-55, "the frescoes shared important features with paintings by other fifteenth-century Florentines"; thus, the frescoes exhibit some characteristics of fifteenth-century Florentine art. Lines 57-62 point out that " Botticelli did not treat these qualities as ends in themselves" and that, in his work, "the traditional Florentine qualities [were] less central"; thus, these qualities are not the dominant features of the frescoes.



The best answer is D. According to lines 48-52, " Botticelli 's work, especially the Sistine frescoes, did not generate worldwide attention until it was finally subjected to a comprehensive and scrupulous analysis by Horne in 1908." The word "finally" suggests that Horne's study of the frescoes was the first thorough investigation of them.