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PrepTest 78, Passage 2, Question 13

Transcript

The author mentions Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican apartments in lines 18 through 19 for which one of the following reasons? So this is specific reference questions, we want to pin point why the author chose to include this example. So if we look at where this is presented, we can see this here, the second way was to create or have created a work that expressed and mirrored one's ideas and way of life, like Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican apartments commissioned by Pope Julius II.

So the second way, of course, is referring to one of the two different ways in which art was historically produced by and for the political and social elite. So, Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican apartment are an example of the art that expressed the ideas and values of the patrons that commissioned it. So in this case Pope Julius II. So Taruskin was arguing that art express the ideas and values of the ruling elite.

So the frescoes are used here as an example to support Taruskin's argument. So the correct answer is A, to provide an example that illustrates the understanding of elitism in art, favored by social historical critics. So Taruskin was a social historical critic, that's how his argument is framed in the passage. So you can see in the passage that the author introduces the frescoes as an example of the second way in which art was created for the elites.

Which was to create or have created a work that expressed and mirrored the ideas of the way of life. So to further confirm this, we can look at what immediately follows. So the sociohistorical critics like Taruskin prefer to deal with art produced in the second way because it enables them to construct a subtle analysis of the way art embodied the ideology of the elite, regardless of what the identity of the artist was.

So the author includes that extra bit after the example that continue the analysis of what sociohistorical critics like Taruskin prefer. And this further explains why the author included the example of Raphael's frescoes.

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