Until now, this painting was believed to be a self portrait of the art

Question

Until now, this painting was believed to be a self portrait of the artist, but it probably is not. True, the heavy gold chain worn by the gentleman in the picture is similar to one presented to the artist by the Queen of England after he had painted her portrait. But the sword hanging at the gentleman’s hip suggests that he was a knight, a rank higher than any the artist ever attained.

The argument above depends on assuming that the self-portrait would

(A) include objects that are important to the artist

(B) not exaggerate the rank achieved by the artist

(C) be similar to portraits of others whom the artist had painted

(D) be verifiable only through the examination of objects in the painting

(E) not portray the artist engaged in the activity of painting

adkikani · Answer

MentorTutoring   VeritasKarishma

Can I know if your reasoning is similar to mine?

What is the assumption that the self-portrait depends on?
Let's dig in to argument to find main conclusion:
 
Main conclusion of argument: the painting is  probably   not  a self portrait of artist.

Counter-premise: Author says we may be inclined to believe that the ornament worn by gentleman in the painting
was similar to the ornament given by Queen of England to the artist.

The sword hanging by gentleman's hip suggests that he attained highest rank as a knight.

So, the painting is NOT self-portrait by artist.

Importance of objects to artist !?!- out of scope.

Exaggeration of rank: Out of scope

Comparison of portraits painted by artist: out of scope

True, we are talking about ornaments, swords, etc i.e. objects on portrait. Hence if 
the objects are on another painting too, my conclusion breaks down. Negation of ONLY is
EVEN IF.

Engagement of artist is out of scope.

Let me know if I sailed across on correct shore with above reasoning.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  adkikani . Yes, my reasoning is similar to yours on the whole, with a few points of discrepancy. The sword is said in the passage to suggest that the person wearing it  was a knight, a rank  higher  than any the artist ever attained . Note that  knight  was not the  highest  rank, as you wrote above, just that it was a higher rank than artist. If you meant to say that someone had achieved his highest (personal) ranking, then you could clarify that point by rewording the sentence a bit. I know I am getting nit-picky, but that is the sort of detail that can separate a correct response from an incorrect one on just about any Verbal question, so I thought I would point it out. Your assessment of (D) also differs a bit from my own. To my eyes, the answer is saying, in combination with the question stem, that the supposed self-portrait can be said to be of the artist or somebody else based on nothing more than the objects depicted, rather than, say, the paints used, the wood used in the frame, receipts of sale, diary entries, or anything else. The negation of ONLY is NOT ONLY, and there is no need for a cross-examination of other paintings. In other words, the argument goes that because of the objects depicted in the painting  and nothing else , the painting can be verified to depict the artist... or not. And if that were  not  true, then the argument presented in the passage would fall apart at the seams.

I hope that helps. If you would like to discuss any points further, just ask. Thank you for having thought to ask me.

- Andrew

Sejal16 · Answer

Answer should be B - if we negate this, it will mean that artist can portray himself to be of higher rank, then the painting could be a self portrait. 
Option D suggests that objects in the painting are to be examined to verify - there is no examination of objects as such.

jUstDOit7474 · Answer

Hi, Can you please explain more on why option D is wrong.

Sejal16 · Answer

Option D says "Only" verifiable thru examination of objects - Only is a strong word. Try and negate this - It will mean that it is verifiable thru other means along with examination of objects. This does not harm our conclusion that the painting was not a self portrait. Other means might also say that it was not self portrait - we dont know about it. So D is not the right answer.

In CR - we have to be aware about adverbs & extreme words used which can change the whole answer.

kntombat · Answer

I am still confused as to why D is wrong and B right?

Can anyone help me out here ?

GMATNinja ,  nightblade354 ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  VeritasKarishma  ?

Bunuel  can you please upload the Official Explanation for this question. 
Thanks.

nightblade354 · Answer

Until now, this painting was believed to be a self portrait of the artist, but it probably is not. True, the heavy gold chain worn by the gentleman in the picture is similar to one presented to the artist by the Queen of England after he had painted her portrait. But the sword hanging at the gentleman’s hip suggests that he was a knight, a rank higher than any the artist ever attained.

P: The sword hanging at the gentleman’s hip suggests that he was a knight, a rank higher than any the artist ever attained
C: But it probably is not (that the painting is a self portrait)

Super straightforward P --> C flow on this one. You can solve this two ways: 1. by asking ourselves how there is an assumption between the premise and the conclusion, or 2. to negate. For the first method (negation will occur below), we are told that the person wearing something is too high of a rank for them, therefore it is not a self portrait. There are a few assumptions made here, but (B) calls out a big one, which is simply that the rank wasn't an exaggeration. My thought was "why couldn't the person dress up as a higher rank?" initially, which is basically what the answer choice says.

The argument above depends on assuming that the self-portrait would

(B)  not  exaggerate the rank achieved by the artist --  If the artist does exaggerate the rank achieved, does this destroy our argument? Absolutely. The entire basis for our argument is that the author didn't achieve X, therefore it isn't him. But if it is exaggerated, then it could very well be the author. Perfect.

(D) be verifiable  not  only through the examination of objects in the painting --  So we are now told that we can identify the painting through other means beyond the objects within it. Does this wreck our argument? No way. Again P --> C, wearing X therefore Y. We do not care how we are able to verify anything within the painting. This is an inverse trap, of sorts. If our negation were the original statement, we would probably have a case for this as a good strengthener.

KarishmaB · Answer

This painting is believed to be a self portrait.
The gold chain is similar to what the artist got.
But the sword suggests he is a knight but the artist never attained the knight rank.

Conclusion: It is not a self portrait.

Based on the fact that the portrait shows a knight, the author is concluding that the artist is not showing himself in it. So he is assuming that the artist would not exaggerate his rank.
If we say that the artist could exaggerate his rank, then can we conclude that it is not a self portrait? No. Then it could be a self portrait.
Hence (B) is the correct assumption.

(A) include objects that are important to the artist

He doesn't assume that the artist will include objects important to him. He assumes that he will not include objects that exaggerate his position.

(C) be similar to portraits of others whom the artist had painted

No such assumption.

(D) be verifiable only through the examination of objects in the painting

No, he doesn't assume that it is verifiable ONLY through objects. There could be other ways of verifying. He makes his conclusions based on the objects he sees in the painting.

(E) not portray the artist engaged in the activity of painting

No such assumption.

Answer (B)

unraveled · Answer

Until now, this  painting was believed to be a self portrait  of the artist, but  it probably is not . True, the heavy gold chain worn by the gentleman in the picture is similar to one presented to the artist by the Queen of England after he had painted her portrait. But the sword hanging at the gentleman’s hip suggests that he was  a knight, a rank higher than any the artist ever attained .

The argument above depends on assuming that the self-portrait would

Highlighted text in the first is the conclusion and latter is the reasoning. Then there's this gap between them that we need to fill.

(A) include  objects that are important  to the artist - WRONG. A gift may or may not be important to the artist.

(B) not exaggerate the rank achieved by the artist - CORRECT. If the portrait had, then reasoning is falsified and passage breaks apart.

(C) be  similar to portraits of others  whom the artist had painted - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(D) be  verifiable only through  the examination of objects in the painting - WRONG. Out of scope. It looks worthy enough but even if one verifies the objects in portrait the portrait may or may not be

(E) not portray the artist  engaged in the activity of painting

Answer B.

KarishmaB · Answer

Fact:
- The painting shows a man with a knight's sword.
- The artist never attained this rank.

These two statements are a fact. They are true. But do they imply that the artist did not paint himself with an exaggerated rank? No.
We are concluding that it is not the artist's self portrait. For that we are assuming that he did not exaggerate his rank. What if he did make himself but with the knight's rank? The two facts remain true. But our conclusion falls apart.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

KarishmaB  hi expert, do you mean the knight's sword in the portrait might not belong to the person in the portrait?
Since I assume the sword belongs to the the person who hangs it, so the person in the portrait must be that rank and can not exaggerate.
Pls help to confirm my thought, thanks.

KarishmaB · Answer

Mavisdu1017

That question arises in case of a photograph. We are talking about a painting here. The artist has full freedom. I could paint myself with a crown on my head to look like a queen but does that mean that I must be one in real life? No. So if someone says that the painting is not my self portrait because I am wearing a crown in it though I am not a queen, is that true? Not necessarily. He is assuming that I would not paint a status for myself higher than what it is in real life.

Mavisdu1017 · Answer

KarishmaB  now totally understand, and appreciate your patient and convincing explanation expert.

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Until now, this painting was believed to be a self portrait of the art

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Until now, this painting was believed to be a self portrait of the art

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