It is very difficult to prove today

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct50% picked this

   Art dealers have always been led by economic self-interest to attribute any unsigned paintings of merit to recognized masters

   Why this is right

   This has lovable strong language ("always been led by"). It's saying that any art dealer over the past 2 or 3 centuries who came across an unsigned painting would have attributed it to Picasso or Rembrandt, rather than to some obscure artist, since it would be easier to sell it for a lot of money if someone thought it was painted by a famous master. If art dealers have been slapping (often) fake attributions on unsigned painting, that attribution now becomes the "traditional attribution". A crooked art dealer, 250 years ago, had an unsigned painting, called it a Renoir, and now whoever has that painting assumes it's a Renoir. Why should we give traditional attributions special weight if there is likely to be a lot of fraudulent traditional attributions?

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   50%
2. B

   Opposite7% picked this

   When a painting is originally created, there are invariably at least some eyewitnesses who see the artist at work, and thus questions of correct

   This strengthens the legitimacy of traditional attributions, by making it seem like they can't be falsified, since there are always some eyewitnesses around.

   7%
3. C

   Strengthens, if Anything12% picked this

   There are not always clearly discernible differences between the occasional inferior work produced by a master and the very best work

   This reinforces why it's so hard, centuries later, to conclusively determine who painted something. The fact that it's so hard nowadays to ascertain who the painter was somewhat reinforces why we would lean on the traditional attribution, since we're so otherwise in doubt.

   12%
4. D

   No Impact27% picked this

   Attribution can shape perception inasmuch as certain features that would count as marks of greatness in a master’s work would be counted as signs

   This answer doesn't have anything to do with how trustworthy traditional attributions are, or how much weight should be given to them. It's about attributions in general.

   27%
5. E

   Strengthens, if Anything4% picked this

   Even though some masters had specialists assist them with certain detail work, such as depicting lace, the resulting works are properly

   This feels like a small, unimportant matter we're zooming in on, but the end of this answer feels like a stamp of approval to the attribution process, so it has the opposite feel of what we want, which is impugn the trustworthiness of traditional attributions.

   4%