CAT 2018 Slot 1 — VARC Question 27
The passage given below is followed by four summaries. Choose the option that best captures the author’s position.
The conceptualization of landscape as a geometric object first occurred in Europe and is historically related to the European conceptualization of the organism, particularly the human body, as a geometric object with parts having a rational, three-dimensional organization and integration. The European idea of landscape appeared before the science of landscape emerged, and it is no coincidence that Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the structure of the human body, also facilitated an understanding of the structure of landscape. Landscape which had been a subordinate background to religious or historical narratives, became an independent genre or subject of art by the end of sixteenth century or the beginning of the seventeenth century.
Answer & solution
The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.
- B
The three-dimensional understanding of the organism in Europe led to a similar approach towards the understanding of landscape
- C
The Renaissance artists were responsible for the study of landscape as a subject of art.
- D
Landscape became a major subject of art at the turn of the sixteenth century.
Easy
This is a para-summary question. Find the author's main point, then cut options that overstate, understate, or distort. The paragraph traces how landscape came to be conceived as a geometric object in Europe (paralleling the study of the human body), and ends with its key claim: Renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci helped establish landscape as an independent genre of art by the turn of the seventeenth century.
Fix the central idea. The paragraph builds to its conclusion in the last two sentences: Renaissance artists who studied the human body also advanced the understanding of landscape, and landscape — once mere background — became an independent genre. The best summary should pin down that artists aided the rise of landscape as an independent genre.
Option 1 — captures the conclusion. "The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists" matches the closing sentences precisely: artists facilitated (aided) the understanding, and landscape became an independent genre. Measured verb ("aided"), correct claim. Retain.
Option 2 — only partial. It restates the body-to-landscape geometric parallel but stops there, omitting the paragraph's payoff: landscape becoming an independent genre, and the role of Renaissance artists in it. Incomplete. Eliminate.
Option 3 — overstates. "Responsible for the study of landscape" is too strong. The passage says artists facilitated an understanding; landscape became an independent subject only later (late 16th / early 17th century). Overcredits the artists. Eliminate.
Option 4 — distorts. The passage says landscape became an independent genre at the turn of the century, not a "major subject of art." "Major" adds a claim of prominence the text does not support, and it drops the role of the artists. Eliminate.
The correct answer is Option 1: The study of landscape as an independent genre was aided by the Renaissance artists.