LSAT 145 | Section 3 | Reading Comprehension: Q12

RC Question 12 Explanation

DISCUSSION: My explanation for the right answer here is long. It’s because the passage doesn’t directly state the answer.

However, by reading the passage as a whole and using common sense, it’s clear that E is right. On the LSAT you’re not supposed to be a robot and ignore everything you know about the world.

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1. I have no idea why this type of wrong answer keeps showing up. The passage was not about what makes something a forgery. It was about whether a forgery can have merit.
2. Ridiculous. All artists use techniques developed by others. You’re only a forger if you try to pass your work off as someone else’s.
3. Nonsense. The point of paragraphs 3 and 4 is that forgery is inferior because it does not originate a new artistic vision.
4. The passage didn’t address this point. We don’t know when Vermeer created his innovations. It’s of course possible for someone to invent something new at the end of their career.
5. CORRECT. If Van Meegeren had merely copied a Vermeer work, we wouldn’t even be talking about the disciples at Emmaus. What Van Meegeren did was more impressive: he painted a new work, in the style of Vermeer. It was so convincing that experts thought Vermeer himself had made the painting.
    
   This is implied by the first paragraph. The passage doesn’t explicitly say that Van Meegeren’s painting was not a direct copy of Vermeer. But it’s clear from the first paragraph and the passage as a whole.
    
   For instance, if The Disciples of Emmaus was a direct copy, then it wouldn’t have been put in a museum. Vermeer’s original would already have been in a collection! The passage makes no mention of Vermeer’s original having been lost.