The purpose of this passage is to challenge the accepted view of Luminist paintings as spiritual with a tranquil mysticism. The author of the passage suggests that the "idealized Luminist atmosphere" is actually meant to represent nature's domestication, or adaptation to human use, as opposed to the commonly held view that it depicts a spiritual and transcendental view of nature. To support this argument, the author uses the case of the Luminist artist Fitz Hugh Lane.
The third paragraph of the passage (lines 23 to 35) presents two opposing views of the significance of the spiritual quality of Lane's harbour scenes: the view of a critic and the view of the author. The author of the passage suggests that Lane's harbour scenes represent trade expansion (i.e. nature's domestication) as opposed to the spirituality of nature. The author quotes the critic to illustrate the accepted view of Lane's Luminist paintings and then challenges this view by presenting their own interpretation of the spiritual quality of the harbour scenes.
Therefore, B is incorrect because the author is using the critic's quote to illustrate a view that they will challenge rather than to illustrate a view that they support. The author is arguing that Lane was more focused on trade expansion and human domestication of nature than its spiritualism, thereby eliminating B as the correct answer choice.
The author cites the critic's views on the spiritual quality of Lane's harbour scenes to illustrate a commonly held view that they believe is misconceived. This is directly restated by E which is, therefore, the correct answer choice.
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