QUESTION TEXT: A 1955 analysis of paint samples from…
QUESTION TYPE: Paradox
PARADOX: Two analyses each found cobalt in a painting. The first analysis presumed this meant cobalt blue, dating the painting to after 1804. The second analysis presumed the cobalt meant the painting was produced before 1804.
ANALYSIS: I couldn’t prephrase this one. I just assumed that something specific about the cobalt in the second analysis suggested an old technique.
___________
- CORRECT. “Original paint layers” = earliest paint layers. So, someone put a fresh layer of paint over the original painting. This means the cobalt (and cobalt blue) may only have been in this topmost layer, and the bottom layers below don’t have this cobalt. Thus the original layers could have been painted before cobalt blue existed.
- This is a difference between the two studies, but it isn’t a relevant difference. There was enough cobalt in the painting that even the older method from 1955 found it. This answer would only be relevant if the earlier study hadn’t found cobalt.
- This is similar to C. It describes the techniques of the analysis, but differences in technique aren’t per se relevant. After analysis, both studies found cobalt, regardless of the differences in method.
- These experts support the results of the second analysis, but only indirectly. Their opinions of style and subject matter don’t relate to cobalt directly. And if the first study is right, it’s impossible for the painting to have had cobalt blue before 1804, regardless of style and subject. Only an answer that speaks directly about cobalt can help settle thing between the studies.
- This casts some doubt on the first study: if cobalt blue was rare, then perhaps the first study was mistaken in its implications?
But, this doesn’t exactly resolve the discrepancy. We’d need more info, such as whether there are reasons other than use of cobalt blue which could lead to cobalt being in a painting. Answer A is way better at actually resolving and explaining the situation. This answer just casts doubt and makes things uncertain.
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