Question
Art restorers who have been studying the factors that cause Renaissance oil paintings to deteriorate physically when subject to climatic changes have found that the oil paint used in these paintings actually adjusts to these changes well. The restorers therefore hypothesize that it is a layer of material called gesso, which is under the paint, that causes the deterioration.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the restorers’ hypothesis?
(This question is from the Official Guide. Therefore, because of copyrights, the complete question cannot be copied here. The question can be accessed at GMAT Club)
Difficulty: Medium
Accuracy: 77%
Based on: 6228 sessions
Solution
The Story
Art restorers who have been studying the factors that cause Renaissance oil paintings to deteriorate physically when subject to climatic changes have found that the oil paint used in these paintings actually adjusts to these changes well.
This one is a fairly long sentence. Let’s make sure we understand what’s going on here.
Renaissance oil paintings deteriorate physically under climatic changes.
Certain art restorers have been studying the factors that cause such deterioration.
These art restorers have found that the oil paint used in these paintings does not deteriorate. (So probably the deterioration is caused by something else.)
The restorers, therefore, hypothesize that it is a layer of material called gesso, which is under the paint, that causes the deterioration.
Oil paintings have a layer of a material called gesso under the paint. The restorers claim that the deterioration is caused by this layer of gesso.
Why is the word ‘therefore’ used in this statement?
This sentence is based on the previous one.
Essentially: Since the oil paint adjusts to the climatic changes, this other material must be responsible for the deterioration of oil paintings.
Question Stem
Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the restorers’ hypothesis?
Framework: The correct answer choice should lead me to believe even more that the oil paintings deteriorate under climatic changes because of the layer of gesso.
This could happen by eliminating other possible reasons, or by highlighting something about the layer of gesso that makes it the more likely culprit. There could be other ways too. These are what I can think of.
Let’s get into the options.
Answer choice analysis
Answer Choice: A
Correct
Selected by: 77%
What impact do you think the following variation has on the hypothesis:
A’. Renaissance oil paintings with a thin layer of gesso are EQUALLY LIKELY to show deterioration in response to climatic changes than those with a thicker layer.
If the chance of a painting deteriorating is not impacted by the amount of gesso in oil paintings, I’m inclined to believe that the gesso layer is not the culprit.
On the flip side, the original answer choice tells us that thinner the layer of gesso, lower the chance that the oil painting is deteriorated.
i.e., ↓ gesso —> ↓ chance of deterioration
This does make me believe more that it is the gesso layer that causes the deterioration.
Answer Choice: B
Incorrect
Selected by: 3%
- Humidity is a climatic condition. So I won’t straight away decide that the answer choice is irrelevant.
- How would the expansion and contraction of the panel on which the painting is made impact the painting?
I imagine such recurring expansion and contraction of the panel would negatively impact the painting.
By giving an alternate potential reason, this answer choice weakens the hypothesis.
Answer Choice: C
Incorrect
Selected by: 6%
We are already given in the passage that “the oil paint used in these paintings actually adjusts to [climatic] changes well”. So, how exactly oil paint physically changes under climatic changes is irrelevant.
No impact.
.
Answer Choice: D
Incorrect
Selected by: 8%
So the frames also have a form of gesso in them. And that type of gesso is hard and nonabsorbent. Even if we take ‘hard and nonabsorbent’ to be qualities that prevent deterioration from climatic changes, we have no information about the type of gesso used in the layer under the paint. Remember, the hypothesis is that the layer of gesso, which is under the paint, causes the deterioration.
No impact.
Answer Choice: E
Incorrect
Selected by: 5%
This answer choice is about how the gesso layers were applied. That on its own does not help me understand whether the layer of gesso was responsible for the deterioration.
No impact.
If you have any doubts regarding any part of this solution, please feel free to ask in the comments section.
Anish Passi
GMAT Coach
With over a decade of GMAT training experience, top 1 percentile scores on the CAT and GMAT, and a passion for teaching, I’d like to believe I am quite qualified to be a GMAT coach. GMAT is learnable, and I help students master the GMAT through a process-oriented approach based on logic and common sense. I offer private tutoring and live-online classroom courses. My sessions are often sprinkled with real-world examples, references to movies, and jokes that only I find funny. You’ve been warned 🙂