X-ray examination of a recently discovered paintingjudged by some aut

Question

X-ray examination of a recently discovered painting—judged by some authorities to be a self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh—revealed an underimage of a woman’s face. Either van Gogh or another painter covered the frst painting with the portrait now seen on the surface of the canvas. Because the face of the woman in the underimage also appears on canvases van Gogh is known to have painted, the surface painting must be an authentic self-portrait by van Gogh.    1 
 The conclusion is properly drawn if which of the following is assumed?

A. If a canvas already bears a painted image produced by an artist, a second artist who uses the canvas to produce a new painting tends to be influenced by the style of the frst artist.
B. Many painted canvases that can be reliably attributed to van Gogh contain underimages of subjects that appear on at least one other canvas that van Gogh is known to have painted.
C. Any painted canvas incorrectly attributed to van Gogh would not contain an underimage of a subject that appears in authentic paintings by that artist.
D. A painted canvas cannot be reliably attributed to an artist unless the authenticity of any underimage that painting might contain can be reliably attributed to the artist.
E. A painted canvas cannot be reliably attributed to a particular artist unless a reliable x-ray examination of the painting is performed.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

OE

The passage’s argument makes a case for the painting’s being an authentic van Gogh self-portrait; it cites as evidence the fact that the canvas’s painted-over image is that of a woman who appears in other van Gogh paintings. Tis argument assumes that another artist would not have painted over the original image of the woman, so the correct answer is  Choice C . Since the argument does not depend upon the painting’s stylistic elements or upon the commonalities between this and other van Gogh paintings,  Choices A  and  B  are incorrect.  Choices D  and  E  establish criteria for attribution beyond the passage’s argument, so they are incorrect as well.

Answer: C

X-ray examination of a recently discovered paintingjudged by some aut

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