Dutch painters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often showed tables filled with large wheels of cheese or carved shards of butter. Some art historians, noting that dairy products were a major component of the Dutch diet, interpret these depictions as reflections of everyday Dutch eating habits. However, a group of researchers recently reviewed hundreds of food-related paintings and found that lemons—which could only be acquired in the Netherlands at great cost, since they had to be imported from warmer climates—feature in Dutch paintings of the period more than three times as frequently as dairy products do, thereby casting doubt on the idea that ______

Question

Dutch painters in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries often showed tables filled with large wheels of cheese or carved shards of butter. Some art historians, noting that dairy products were a major component of the Dutch diet, interpret these depictions as reflections of everyday Dutch eating habits. However, a group of researchers recently reviewed hundreds of food-related paintings and found that lemons—which could only be acquired in the Netherlands at great cost, since they had to be imported from warmer climates—feature in Dutch paintings of the period more than three times as frequently as dairy products do, thereby casting doubt on the idea that ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
Choose 1 answer:
Choose 1 answer:
(Choice A)   Dutch painters of the period may have depicted foods for symbolic reasons rather than to show what Dutch people typically ate. 
A
Dutch painters of the period may have depicted foods for symbolic reasons rather than to show what Dutch people typically ate.
(Choice B)   dairy products were a more significant component of the Dutch diet of the period than lemons were.
B
dairy products were a more significant component of the Dutch diet of the period than lemons were.
(Choice C)   depictions of food in Dutch paintings of the period should be taken as realistic representations of Dutch eating habits.
C
depictions of food in Dutch paintings of the period should be taken as realistic representations of Dutch eating habits.
(Choice D)   food was a more popular subject among Dutch painters than it was among painters from other countries at the time. 
D
food was a more popular subject among Dutch painters than it was among painters from other countries at the time.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The most logical completion of the text is:

(Choice C) depictions of food in Dutch paintings of the period should be taken as realistic representations of Dutch eating habits.

This choice directly relates to the conclusion drawn from the evidence presented in the text—that the presence of lemons, a high-cost imported fruit, raises questions about the accuracy of depictions of dairy products as reflections of everyday eating habits in Dutch life. The contrast in frequency of these food items in paintings suggests that these artworks may not represent typical Dutch food consumption.