Passage (Walter Pater, *The Renaissance*, 1873, from "The School of Giorgione"): "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music. For while in all other works of art it is possible to distinguish the matter from the form, and the understanding can always make this distinction, yet it is the constant effort of art to obliterate it. That the mere matter of a poem, for instance — its subject, its given incidents or situation; that the mere matter of a picture — the actual circumstances of an event, the actual topography of a landscape — should be nothing without the form, the spirit, of the handling; that this form, this mode of handling, should become an end in itself, should penetrate every part of the matter: this is what all art constantly strives after, and achieves in different degrees." Which of the following can be **most strongly inferred** from the passage about Pater's view of the *matter* of a work of art?
AThe matter of a work is what gives it artistic value; the form merely serves to convey it.
BThe matter and the form must remain clearly separable for a work to count as art.
CThe matter of a work — its subject — is irrelevant and should be avoided by the serious artist.
DThe matter of a work, in isolation from its form, has little artistic significance.
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. The matter of a work, in isolation from its form, has little artistic significance.
Pater writes that the *mere matter of a poem... that the mere matter of a picture... should be nothing without the form, the spirit, of the handling.* The phrase *should be nothing without the form* is the load-bearing clause: matter unaccompanied by form has no artistic value. That maps onto **C**.
- **A** is the **opposite** of Pater's claim — he subordinates matter to form.
- **B** would describe the position of the *understanding*, not Pater's view. Art's *effort* is to obliterate the distinction.
- **D** overstates: Pater says *mere matter is nothing*, **not** that subject matter should be *avoided*. Subject is to be *penetrated* by form, not banished.
The inference requires keeping *mere* in *mere matter* in view — Pater is not eliminating subject matter but stripping it of *isolated* value.
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