Q10 - Michelangelo's sixteenth-century

[linzru86]

I don't understand why A is correct. If the goal of the restoration is to uncover Michelangelo's original work then why would da Volterra's be okay to stay? I understand that da Volterra may have gotten rid of all the other artists who may have painted before him or altered Michelagelo's work but obviously the work of da Volterra is not part of Michelangelo's original work. right?

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

Good question!

We're trying to reconcile the stated goal with the restorers' decision.

Stated Goal = uncover Michelangelo's original work
Restorers' Decision = leave intact additions painted by da Voltera

If in fact the restorers believed that da Voltera had removed anything Michelangelo had painted by stripping away all previous layers of paint before he painted, then the restorers would have no reason to remove da Voltera. There goal was to uncover Michelangelo's work. If none of Michelangelo's work was underneath da Voltera, why remove da Voltera? Answer choice (A) does shed light on why the restorers decided to leave intact da Voltera. There was no benefit to removing da Voltera.

(B) is irrelevant. Muted colors is out scope.
(C) could be tempting. But it's not the style the restorers are trying to maintain, but rather to uncover any of Michelangelo's original work.
(D) is irrelevant. Why they are famous plays no role in the decision to leave intact da Voltera's work.
(E) is tempting, but this answer choice just questions the stated goal, but doesn't reconcile it.


Let me know if you still don't see this one. I've taught this question in class for years and found that this one was really hard for a significant portion of the class even after we went through the answers.

[linzru86]

I guess my problem was with the actual goal. I saw their goal as being ....to uncover Michelangelo's (and only Michelangelo's) original work and get rid of anything that was not part of his original work as to restore the integrity of the whole piece. But I guess I just took the goal too far. I think I understand now.

[ManhattanPrepLSAT1]

That's exactly it. We're not trying to remove everything but Michelangelo's work. Instead, we're simply trying to reveal as much of Michelangelo's work as possible. With that new interpretation of the stated goal, you should be set. Let me know though, if this question is still giving you a headache!

[skapur777]

Luckily, for this question, the wrong answer choices are pretty apparent. But I still have a question concerning the right answer.

So if da Volterra stripped all previous layers, then is da Volterra's painting the base of the Sistine Chapel? If we got rid of da Volterra's paintings, then there would be nothing left...since he stripped everything off before it...

right?

I know this has no bearing on the answer and is actually somewhat the reason why it is correct but..doesn't this strike you as a little odd?

[fyre182]

That's exactly it. We're not trying to remove everything but Michelangelo's work. Instead, we're simply trying to reveal as much of Michelangelo's work as possible. With that new interpretation of the stated goal, you should be set. Let me know though, if this question is still giving you a headache!

When i saw this problem, i had a tough time deciding between answer choice A and answer choice C.

i thought that answer choice C meant that the style was similar, so they didn't want to remove his work because they might remove Michelangelo's work.

Am i inferring too much with answer choice C? My only conclusion is that i'm taking the inference of similarity in style a bit too far. If that's true, how can i know when i'm extrapolating too much?

[yarlungtsangpo]

We are outmanuvred by "all previous layers" which we unconsciously add an qualification "except Michelangelo's".

[mjacob0511]

I got this right by POE, but I do not understand how it fits. The passage says that they are restoring Michelangelo's SC paintings. In order to uncover his original work they are removing layers painted by other artists. However, are leaving da Volterra's "ADDITIONS" intact.

(A) If he stripped away ALL the layers of paint, including Michelangelo's then why would this even be considered a Michelangelo painting. If I write something on a paper and they erase what I wrote and write their own thing, that's not my work. It's defining "addition" in an extremely loose and unrelated sense. So yes the restorers will leave da Volterra's paintings alone, and mine as well because they are not Michelangelo's work.

[einuoa]

I got this right by POE, but I do not understand how it fits. The passage says that they are restoring Michelangelo's SC paintings. In order to uncover his original work they are removing layers painted by other artists. However, are leaving da Volterra's "ADDITIONS" intact.

(A) If he stripped away ALL the layers of paint, including Michelangelo's then why would this even be considered a Michelangelo painting. If I write something on a paper and they erase what I wrote and write their own thing, that's not my work. It's defining "addition" in an extremely loose and unrelated sense. So yes the restorers will leave da Volterra's paintings alone, and mine as well because they are not Michelangelo's work.

I am also still having trouble with answer choices A and C.

For C, I also made the inference that if Da Volterra's additions were similar in style, the restorers' would leave it intact because they don't want to remove DV's additions in case they were actually Michelangelo's work.

For A, somehow this makes the whole stimulus make less sense...in that if DV stripped all the previous layers away, would this painting even be a Michelangelo painting? The stimulus uses "additions" but if it's additions, then there has to be something to add on to...not just a blank slate? Before getting to the answer choices, I assumed that DV's additions would somehow help with uncovering Michelangelo's original work, but the answer choice says that Michelangelo's work was erased?? Could an LSAT geek explain this one in further detail?

[maryadkins]

Well it's an entire chapel not just one painting so there are portions where the only paint there is da Volterra's because underneath DV's paint there is no other paint. And then there are a lot of places of the Sistene Chapel that are painted by Michelangelo. DV's work counts as additions to the entire chapel. We're told the goal is to uncover Michelangelo's original painting and we take that literally, at face value. If there are places where his painting was removed, there's nothing to uncover, hence (A).

(C) is off topic because we have absolutely no idea if style has anything to do with what the restorers care about.