SAT OwlQuestion bank / Central Ideas and Details
Visitors who see Byzantine church mosaics in museum photographs often find them stiff: the saints stare straight ahead, and the gold backgrounds look flat. Art historian Teodora Vasilescu argues that such photographs, taken under steady electric light, misrepresent works designed for a very different setting. Byzantine artisans set the small gold and glass tiles at slightly different angles in the wet plaster. Under the flickering light of oil lamps and candles, Vasilescu notes, each tile would have caught and lost the light at a different moment, so that the surfaces seemed to shimmer and the figures to move.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
Byzantine mosaics were designed to be viewed under the steady light found in museums.
Vasilescu argues that photographs make the mosaics look stiff because they miss how the mosaics looked in flickering lamplight.
Vasilescu argues that Byzantine artisans set their tiles at uneven angles because they lacked the precise tools needed to set them evenly.
Byzantine artisans made their saints stare straight ahead because they wanted the figures to seem motionless.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B
Vasilescu says museum photographs, taken under steady light, misrepresent the mosaics. The tiles were set at varied angles, so in flickering lamplight the surfaces would shimmer and the figures would seem to move. Choice B sums up her argument.
Choice D builds on the detail that the saints "stare straight ahead," but Vasilescu's point is that in their original light the figures seemed to move.
Why the other choices are wrong
- A. The text says the mosaics were made for a "very different setting" lit by lamps and candles, not for steady museum light.
- C. The text treats the uneven angles as a deliberate choice that made the surfaces shimmer. It never mentions a lack of tools.
- D. Vasilescu argues the figures seemed to move in flickering light, so saying artisans wanted them motionless contradicts her.
Got it wrong? On SAT Owl, Owl looks at the answer you chose and explains the exact mistake, then gives you similar questions until it sticks. Get your predicted SAT score free, or take a free full-length practice test.