1. Which of the following would be the most appropriate title for the passage?
(A) Botticelli's Contribution to Florentine Art
(B) Botticelli and the Traditions of Classical Art
(C) Sandro Botticelli: From Denigration to Appreciation
(D) Botticelli and Michelangelo: A Study in Contrasts
(E) Standards of Taste: Botticelli's Critical Reputation up to the Nineteenth Century
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
2. It can be inferred that the author of the passage would be likely to find most beneficial a study of an artist that
(A) avoided placing the artist in an evolutionary scheme of the history of art
(B) analyzed the artist's work in relation to the artist's personality
(C) analyzed the artist's relationship to the style and subject matter of classical art
(D) analyzed the artist's work in terms of both traditional characteristics and unique achievement
(E) sanctioned and extended the evaluation of the artist's work made by the artist's contemporaries
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.
3. The passage suggests that Vasari would most probably have been more enthusiastic about BotticeIIi's work if that artist's work
(A) had not revealed Botticelli's inability to depict a story clearly
(B) had not evolved so straightforwardly from the Florentine art of the fourteenth century
(C) had not seemed to Vasari to be so similar to classical art
(D) could have been appreciated by amateur viewers as well as by connoisseurs
(E) could have been included more easily in Vasari's discussion of art history
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.
4. The author most likely mentions the fact that many of Botticelli's best paintings were "hidden away in obscure churches and private homes"(highlighted text) in order to
(A) indicate the difficulty of trying to determine what an artist's best work is.
(B) persuade the reader that an artist's work should be available for general public viewing
(C) prove that academic art historians had succeeded in keeping Botticelli's work from general public view
(0) call into question the assertion that antiacademic art historians disagreed with their predecessors
(E) suggest a reason why, for a period of time, Botticelli's work was not generally appreciated
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.' '
5. The passage suggests that most seventeenth- and eighteenth-century academic art historians and most early-nineteenth-century antiacademic art historians would have disagreed significantly about which of the following?
I. The artistic value of Botticelli's work
II. The criteria by which art should be judged
III. The features that characterized fifteenth-century Florentine art
(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) III only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III
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."
6. According to the passage, which of the following is an accurate statement about Botticelli's relation to classical art?
(A) Botticelli more often made use of classical subject matter than classical style.
(B) Botticelli's interest in perspective led him to study classical art.
(C) Botticelli's style does not share any similarities with the style of classical art.
(0) Because he saw little classical art, Botticelli did not exhibit much interest in imitating such art.
(E) Although Botticelli sometimes borrowed his subject matter from classical art, he did not create large-scale paintings of these subjects.
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.
7. According to the passage, Horne believed which of the following about the relation of the Sistine frescoes to the tradition of fifteenth-century Florentine art?
(A) The frescoes do not exhibit characteristics of such art.
(B) The frescoes exhibit more characteristics of such art than do the paintings of Michel- Angelo.
(C) The frescoes exhibit some characteristics of such art, but these qualities are not the dominant features of the frescoes.
(D) Some of the frescoes exhibit characteristics of such art, but most do not.
(E) More of the frescoes exhibit a skillful representation of anatomical proportions than a skillful representation of the human figure in motion.
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.
8. The passage suggests that, before Horne began to study Botticelli's work in 1908, there had been
(A) little appreciation of Botticelli in the English-speaking world
(B) an overemphasis on Botticelli's transformation, in the Sistine frescoes, of the principles of classical art
(C) no attempt to compare Botticelli's work to that of Michelangelo.
(D) no thorough investigation of Botticelli's Sistine frescoes
(E) little agreement among connoisseurs and amateurs about the merits of Botticelli's work
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.