In the paintings by seventeenth–century Dutch artist Vermeer, we find several recurrent items: a satin jacket, a cer...

Emil on July 16, 2022

Hi Tyler,

How slowly are you reading this passage? When I have trouble understanding a complex scenario like this, I would try to read as slowly as possible, one sentence at a time. If you have a less than perfect understanding of a sentence, reread it and don't move on until you understand it.

When it comes to unfamiliar words, please please please look them up while you are studying! If a word has appeared on a past test, there is a real chance it can again.

To roughly sum up the argument, the author notes that there are a few common things that show up in Vermeer's works, and their reappearance suggests that the artists did not use many props. However, the items in the paintings are expensive, so it was probably not because the artist did not have props that the artist did not use them in his paintings. This is a pretty weak argument, which makes it even harder to parse.