The Following is an Exchange Between Two Art Historians Over the Recent Restoration of the Sistine Chapel.

Reading Passage Question

The following is an exchange between two art historians over the recent restoration of the Sistine Chapel.

Scholar A

I shudder to think what Michelangelo‘s reaction would be if he were to gaze up today at the famous frescoes he painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel over four centuries ago. He was a practical man and would not have been surprised by the effects of time and environment on his masterpiece. He would have been philosophical about the damage wrought by mineral salts left behind when rainwater leaked through the roof. He would also probably have taken in stride the layers of dirt and soot from the coal braziers that heated the chapel—if that dirt had not been removed during the restoration.

Scholar B

The armament of the restorer is no longer limited to artistic sensibility and historical knowledge. A chemist on the Vatican restoration team identified the composition of the layers swathing Michelangelo‘s primary hues. Since there was a stratum of dirt between the painting and the first layer of glaze, it was clear that several decades had elapsed between the completion of the ceiling and the application of the glaze. This justified the use of cleaning solvents that would lift off all but that final layer of dirt, which was kept for the sake of protection of the frescoes.

Scholar A

The Vatican restoration team revealed in inducing a colorful transformation in the frescoes with their special cleaning solvents and computerized analysis equipment. But he would have been appalled at the ravages inflicted on his work by the restorers.

This effect was not, as they claim, achieved merely by removing the dirt and animal glue (which was, by the way, employed by earlier restorers to revive muted colors). They removed Michelangelo‘s final touches as well. The ceiling no longer has its essential quality of suppressed anger and thunderous pessimism. That quality was not an artifact of grime, not a misleading monochrome imposed on the ceiling by time. Michelangelo himself applied a veil of glaze to the frescoes to darken them after he had deemed his work too bright. I think the master would have felt compelled to add a few more layers of glaze had the ceiling radiated forth as it does now. It is clear that the solvents of the restorers did not just strip away the shadows. They also react chemically with Michelangelo‘s pigments to produce hues the painter himself never beheld.

Scholar B

The particular solvent they employed, AB 57, was chosen because of the overall neutral action of its two chemicals on pigments: one temporarily tones them down, but the other livens them up to the same degree. Thus, the colors that emerged from the shadows are truly what Michelangelo intended to be seen.

The luminous figures are without doubt the work of a master craftsman who executed typical Renaissance painting techniques to perfection. This is the source of the difficulty you have with the restoration: the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel no longer seems to be the fruit of the wayward genius, defiant of Renaissance fresco-painting protocol, that you always thought Michelangelo was. You don‘t like the fact that the painter seems, like a vagabond given a good scrubbing, to be a complete stranger, rational and traditional and devoid of fearfulness and anger. But the veil that led to the misperceptions of Michelangelo has now been lifted, and we may better acquaint ourselves with him.

Scholar A

Of course, the restorers left open an avenue for the reversal of their own ―lifting of the veil.‖ Since the layers of animal glue are no longer there to serve as protection, the atmospheric pollutants from the city of Rome now have direct access to the frescoes. In fact, we‘ve already noticed significant darkening in some of the restored work, and it‘s only been four years since the restoration was completed. It remains to be seen whether the measure introduced to arrest this process—an extensive climate control system—will itself have any long-term effect on the chapel‘s ceiling.

“The following is an exchange between two art historians over the recent restoration of the Sistine Chapel.” - is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 3 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. Scholar B‘s argument that the presence of dirt between the painting and the first layer of glaze justified the use of cleaning solvents to remove the glaze assumes that:

1. the dirt was laid down several decades after the painting‘s completion.
2. the cleaning solvents would never actually touch the frescoes.
3. Michelangelo intended the glaze to be relatively temporary.
4. Michelangelo could not have applied glaze to the ceiling decades after painting it.
5. dirt is not actually making the painting look more beautiful

2. Based on Scholar B‘s claim that Scholar A is unhappy because the ceiling ―no longer seems to be the fruit of [a] wayward genius, defiant of Renaissance painting protocol,‖ it is reasonable to conclude that:

1. Michelangelo was not a fiercely independent thinker.
2. the restoration has jeopardized Michelangelo‘s position in history as a great artist.
3. darkening colors to produce a gloomy effect was characteristic of Michelangelo‘s time.
4. historical conceptions of Michelangelo overestimated his negative traits.
5. Scholar A is not aware of all the aspects of Michaelangelo‘s personality

3. In arguing that some of the restored work has already been darkened by pollution, which of the following assumptions did Scholar A make?

1. Nothing except pollution could have caused the darkening.
2. The darkening indicates that irreversible damage has been done.
3. The atmospheric pollutants are more abundant now than they were before the restoration.

1. I only
2. I and II
3. II and III
4. I, II and III
5. None of the above

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