Most commentators on Baroque painting consider Caravaggio an early pra

Question

Most commentators on Baroque painting consider Caravaggio an early practitioner of that style , believing that his realism and novel use of the interplay of light and shadow broke sharply with current styles of Caravaggio's time and significantly influenced 17th century Baroque painting. One must therefore either abandon the opinion of this majority of commentators or reject Mather's definition of Baroque painting, which says that for any painting to be considered Baroque , it must display opulence, heroic sweep, and extravagance.

The conclusion of the argument can be properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed ?

A. Paintings that belong to a single historical period typically share many of the same stylistic features.

B. A painter who makes the use of interplay of light and shadow need not for that reason be considered a nonrealistic painter.

C. Realism was not widely used by painters prior to the 17th Century.

D. A realistic painting usually doesn't depict the world as opulent,heroic, or extravagant

E. Opulence, heroic sweep, and extravagance are not present in Caravaggio's paintings.

Senthoorya · Answer

-We can eliminate B and C at the very first stage.

-According to the second sentence it was clear enough that we have to take any one option from the choices either it is commentators opinion or Mather's definition.
If you understand both options,you will have a decion point that these two are completely controversial.
-To make the conclusion strong and prominent we should select the right assumption from the remaining options A, D, and E.
-Option D is a suitable one which makes the conclusion strong. So A and E are not the right options.

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YuChenChen · Answer

I think the answer is E.
Opulence, heroic sweep, and extravagance are included in Baroque.

Nymeria26 · Answer

Why not option D

Bunuel 
 GMATNinja 
 AndrewN

ParamjitDasGMAT · Answer

We are not concerned with   realistic paintings in general  , but whether C's paintings can be considered under the category definition of Baroque paintings. (E) must be the assumption as it links the crucial elements typical of a Baroque painting to those present in C's. The  NEGATION  strategy can also be used to test (E) as the correct answer -- if this is negated, then the conclusion falls apart as the definition of a Baroque painting doesn't have to be changed.

Hope this helps

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Nymeria26 . Although another Expert has already weighed in, I would like to add my thoughts. This  conclusion  is unlike most in that it presents two targets within an  either... or  framework. At issue is whether Caravaggio should be considered  an early practitioner of   style . Break down the two halves of the conclusion:

1)  One must... either abandon the opinion of this majority of commentators  that Caravaggio's  realism and novel use of the interplay of light and shadow broke sharply with current styles of   time and significantly influenced 17th century Baroque painting  OR

2)  One must... reject Mather's definition of Baroque painting, which says that for any painting to be considered Baroque , it must display opulence, heroic sweep, and extravagance

in order to posit that Caravaggio was a Baroque painter. Thus, we should be thinking that either Caravaggio's stylistic elements did  not  break sharply with the conventions of his time to influence the subsequent Baroque movement, or that Caravaggio did  not  display opulence, heroic sweep (whatever that is), and extravagance in his works. Notice that neither of these assumptions comments on  realism  or  realistic paintings  as a whole, just on the specific features that may or may not be present in works by Caravaggio. Broad, sweeping assumptions such as those made in all answer choices besides (E) miss the mark for this reason. That is, this particular argument is not concerned with  paintings that belong to a single historical period  (answer choice (A)), the distinction between a realistic and  nonrealistic painter  (B),  realism  (C), or  a realistic painting  in general, but the bridge between background information and conclusion must correctly pair the key components of the first and second sentences as they relate to Caravaggio and his works.

Thank you for thinking to ask for my input. Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

Most commentators on Baroque painting consider Caravaggio an early pra

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Most commentators on Baroque painting consider Caravaggio an early pra

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