CARSA VOL 2 passage 2

Passage 2 (Questions 8–14)

Poussin had come to Rome one or two years after Guercino had left it. And a few years later (presumably about 1630), he produced the earlier of his two Et in Arcadia ego compositions. Being a classicist, Poussin revised Guercino’s composition by adding the Arcadian river god Alpheus and by transforming the decaying masonry into a classical sarcophagus.

But in spite of these improvements, Poussin’s picture does not conceal its derivation from Guercino’s. In the first place, it retains to some extent the element of drama and surprise: The shepherds approach as a group from the left and are unexpectedly stopped by the tomb. In the second place, there is still the actual skull, placed upon the sarcophagus above the word Arcadia, although it has become quite small and inconspicuous and fails to attract the attention of the shepherds, who seem to be more intensely fascinated by the inscription than they are shocked by the death’s-head.

After another five or six years, however, Poussin produced a second and final version of the Et in Arcadia ego theme, the famous picture in the Louvre. And in this painting we can observe a radical break with the medieval, moralizing tradition. The element of drama and surprise has disappeared. Instead of two or three Arcadians approaching from the left in a group, we have four, symmetrically arranged on either side of a sepulchral monument. Instead of being checked in their progress by an unexpected and terrifying phenomenon, they are absorbed in calm discussion and pensive contemplation. The form of the tomb is simplified into a plain rectangular block, and the death’s-head is eliminated altogether.

Here, then, we have a basic change in interpretation. The Arcadians are not so much warned of an implacable future as they are immersed in mellow meditation on a beautiful past. In short, Poussin’s Louvre picture no longer shows a dramatic encounter with Death but a contemplative absorption in the idea of mortality. We are confronted with a change from thinly veiled moralism to undisguised elegiac sentiment.

When read according to the rules of Latin grammar (“Even in Arcady, there am I”), the phrase had been consistent and easily intelligible as long as the words could be attributed to a death’s-head and as long as the shepherds were suddenly and frighteningly interrupted in their walk. These conditions are manifestly true of Guercino’s painting, and they are also true, if in a considerably lesser degree, of Poussin’s earlier picture.

When facing the Louvre painting, however, the beholder finds it difficult to accept the inscription in its literal, grammatically correct, significance. In the absence of a death’s-head, the ego in the phrase might seem to refer to the tomb itself. But it is infinitely more natural to ascribe the words to the person buried therein. Such is the case with 99 percent of all epitaphs.

Thus Poussin himself, while making no verbal change in the inscription, invites, almost compels, the beholder to mistranslate it by relating the ego to a dead person and by connecting the et with ego instead of with Arcadia. The development of his pictorial vision had outgrown the significance of the literary formula, and we may say that those who, under the influence of the Louvre picture, decided to render the phrase Et in Arcadia ego as “I, too, lived in Arcady,” rather than as “Even in Arcady, there am I,” did violence to Latin grammar but justice to the meaning of Poussin’s art.

Null

Suppose that a painting contained words with no apparent relevance to the scene depicted. The passage suggests that in discussing this painting, the passage author would be most likely to:

A

assume that the artist intended to puzzle the viewer.

B

interpret the scene on the basis of the words.

C

interpret the words on the basis of the scene.

D

discuss the scene without reference to the words.

Solution: The correct answer is C.

1. Passage discussion reveals that the author is more likely to find a way to fit the words to the painting rather than make this assumption. See rationale C.

2. Passage information indicates that this could not be done because Poussin removed elements from the scene in the later painting that allowed it to be interpreted on the basis of the words. See rationale C.

3. When Poussin removed the death’s-head and retained the Latin phrase Et in Arcadia ego, the words originally attributed to the death’s-head, the viewer is forced to attribute the words to the tomb or the dead person inside the tomb and to mistranslate the Latin phrase; thus, the viewer is forced to interpret the words on the basis of the scene.

4. The author emphasizes how the mere presence of the words in the painting invites the viewer, or at least the author, to refer to them at some level. Therefore, it would not be consistent with the author’s argument to make no reference to the words. See rationale C.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the inscription on Poussin’s second Arcadia painting was translated as “Even in Arcady, there am I” only in England. In conjunction with passage information, this fact most strongly implies that in comparison with other Europeans, the English were:

A

less familiar with Latin grammar.

Answer choice eliminated

B

less receptive to medieval moralizing.

C

more sophisticated in their response to art.

Answer choice eliminated

D

more influenced by the Guercino painting.

Solution: The correct answer is D.

1. This would imply that the English were familiar with Latin grammar because “Even in Arcady, there am I” represents the grammatically correct translation.

2. Passage information indicates that this translation is consistent with the Guercino painting and, by extension, with the medieval moralizing that Poussin broke with in the later painting. Therefore, English fidelity to the grammatical translation would imply that the English were more, not less, receptive to the medieval moralizing tradition.

3. This would more likely indicate less sophistication in art because, by retaining the grammatical translation, the English did not bother with the implications of retaining the Latin phrase while changing some key elements in the painting.

4. Retention of the grammatical translation would indicate that the English were more influenced by the Guercino painting because the translation relates directly to it: “When read according to the rules of Latin grammar (‘Even in Arcady, there am I’), the phrase had been consistent and easily intelligible as long as the words could be attributed to a death’s-head and as long as the shepherds were suddenly and frighteningly interrupted in their walk. These conditions are manifestly true of Guercino’s painting. .

Suppose that when Poussin’s Louvre painting is cleaned, a skull is discovered on the tomb. This discovery means that the author’s thesis about this painting:

A

has been confirmed.

B

is more plausible.

C

is less plausible.

D

has been disproved.

Solution: The correct answer is C.

1. The author’s thesis would not be confirmed because the thesis relied on the death’s-head having been removed entirely from the Louvre painting.

2. The thesis would be less, not more, plausible because it was based on the removal of the death’s-head from the Louvre painting. See rationale A.

3. The author’s thesis would be less plausible because the viewer would then have to reconsider the possibility that the Latin phrase could be attributed to the death’s-head. However, the thesis would still retain some plausibility because the shepherds in the later painting would still be engaged in calm discussion and pensive contemplation, rather than directly engaged with or accosted by the death’s-head as in the earlier paintings. This would hold out the possibility that the role of the death’s-head has been demoted from an active player in the painting to a formalized or stylized decorative object, but one that the viewer has to consider in relation to the inscription.

4. The thesis would not necessarily be disproved because the role of the death’s-head would be diminished. See rationale C.

According to the author, which details of Poussin’s Louvre painting support the belief that it reveals his decision to reject the moralizing tradition in art?

1. A classical tomb

2. A pagan river god

3. A symmetrical composition

A

II only

B

III only

C

I and II only

D

I and III only

Solution: The correct answer is B.

1. This simply represented an addition to the first Poussin painting of an element not seen in the original Guercino painting. Therefore, the first Poussin painting still retained the Guercino elements of medieval moralizing.

2. The break with the medieval moralizing tradition, as described in the passage, can be seen in how the symmetrical arrangement of the group of shepherds on either side of the tomb eliminates the more dramatic portrayal of the shepherds entering from the left and being unexpectedly accosted by the death’s-head: “Instead of being checked in their progress by an unexpected and terrifying phenomenon, they are absorbed in calm discussion and pensive contemplation.”

3. The addition of the classical tomb occurred in the first Poussin painting and simply replaced the decaying masonry in the Guercino painting. However, the first Poussin painting retained the elements of medieval moralizing that characterize the Guercino painting. Option II is also incorrect. See rationale A.

4. Only Option III is correct. See rationales B and C.

What is the significance to the passage argument of the information that the shepherds are already at the tomb rather than approaching it?

A

It shows that they are not surprised by the reminder of death.

B

It indicates the classicism of Poussin’s vision.

C

It ensures that the viewer interprets the inscription as an epitaph.

D

It emphasizes the simplicity of the tomb.

Solution: The correct answer is A.

1. The author describes the Louvre painting as follows: “Instead of two or three Arcadians approaching from the left in a group, we have four, symmetrically arranged on either side of a sepulchral monument. Instead of being checked in their progress by an unexpected and terrifying phenomenon, they are absorbed in calm discussion and pensive contemplation.” The author later comments that they are engaged in contemplation of mortality rather than being surprised in a dramatic encounter with the death’s-head.

2. For the author, the classicism of Poussin’s painting is not its most significant characteristic, but, rather, the interpretation that results from the arrangement of the Arcadians. See rationale A.

3. According to the author, the lack of the death’s-head, to which the Latin phrase was ascribed, not the arrangement of the Arcadians, leads the viewer to possibly read the inscription as an epitaph.

4. The author merely comments that the form of the tomb has been simplified but makes no comment about how the symmetrical arrangement of the Arcadians emphasizes the tomb’s simplicity.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most weaken the author’s reasoning about the historical significance of the changes introduced in Poussin’s second Arcadia painting?

A

Guercino’s Arcadia painting contains as many classical elements as do either of Poussin’s versions.

B

The skull in Guercino’s Arcadia painting is small and inconspicuous.

C

The painting was completed by one of Poussin’s students.

Answer choice eliminated

D

Many of Poussin’s later paintings have strongly moralistic themes.

Solution: The correct answer is D.

1. The addition of classical elements such as the classical sarcophagus and the Arcadian river god have more to do with the more superficial elements of style and form than with the more significant substance of Poussin’s first painting, which retains the basic substance or subject matter of Guercino’s painting. By the same reasoning, if Guercino’s basic subject matter remained the same, the classical elements would have little or no effect on how the viewer interprets the painting.

2. The skull is also small and inconspicuous in Poussin’s first painting, but this presence still has a significant impact on how the viewer interprets the painting. Likewise, if the skull proved to be small and inconspicuous in the Guercino painting, the fact of its presence would significantly affect the painting’s interpretation.

3. This would have little impact, especially if the student had been directed by Poussin to retain the key elements of the painting.

4. If this were the case, the removal of the moralistic elements from the Poussin’s Louvre painting would be seen as an anomaly, not a major historical trend-setting change in Poussin’s work or, as the author puts it, “a radical break with the medival, moralizing tradition.” In other words, this “radical break,” if it simply represented an anomaly rather than a major shift, would have less historical significance than the author contends.

As used in the passage, the term elegiac is closest in meaning to:

A

piously hopeful.

B

serenely reflective.

C

profoundly grieving.

Answer choice eliminated

D

poetically praising.

Solution: The correct answer is B.

1. The author’s discussion does not include any reference to religious elements in the painting that would lead to its being characterized as pious. Nor is there any indication that hopefulness characterizes the contemplation of mortality depicted in the painting. Instead, the viewer is simply confronted with the reality of mortality. In the face of this reality, the painting emphasizes a turn toward “meditation on a beautiful past.”

2. The Arcadians in the second Poussin painting are characterized as being “absorbed in calm discussion and pensive contemplation” and engaged in “a contemplative absorption in the idea of mortality.” These descriptions accord with the meaning of elegiac as a state of “serenely reflective” mourning.

3. “Profound grief,” a raw emotion in response to actual death, is not conveyed by “calm discussion and pensive contemplation,” “mellow meditation on a beautiful past,” or “contemplative absorption in the idea of mortality.” The more general idea of mortality, not the grief associated with a specific person’s actual death, seems to be the subject of the painting and accounts for its elegiac tone.

4. Although an elegiac mood is arguably poetic, an attitude of praise is not conveyed by “calm discussion and pensive contemplation,” “mellow meditation on a beautiful past,” or “contemplative absorption in the idea of mortality.” The painting forces the viewer, like the Arcadians, into contemplating this more generalized idea of mortality.