Toefl Practice Test 3 Writing

​Rembrandt is the most famous of the 17th century Dutch painters. However, there are doubts whether some paintings attributed to Rembrandt were actually painted by him. One such painting is known as ‘’the portrait of an elderly woman in a white bonnet’’. The painting was attributed to Rembrandt because of its style, and indeed the representation of the woman's face is very much like that of portraits known to be by rembrandt. but there are problems with the painting that suggest it could not be a work by Rembrandt.

 First, there is something inconsistent about the way the woman in the portrait is dressed. She is wearing a white linen cap of a kind that only servants would wear, yet the court she is wearing has a luxurious fur collar that no servant could afford. Rembrandt, who was known for his attention to detail of his subjects' clothing, would not have been guilty of such an inconsistency.

 Second, Rembrandt was a master of painting light and shadow, but in this painting these elements do not fit together. the face appears to be illuminated by light reflected onto it from below. but below the face is dark for colour, which would absorb light rather than reflect it. so the fish should appear partially in shadow, which is not how it appears. Rembrandt would never have made such an error.

 Finally, examination of the back of the painting reveals that it was painted on a panel made of several pieces of wood glued together. although Rembrandt often painted on wood panels, no painting known to be by Rembrandt uses a  panel  glued together in this way from several pieces of wood

 For these reasons the painting was removed from the official catalogue of Rembrandt's paintings in the 1930s. 

​Play track 91 

Summarise the points made in the lecture, make sure to explain how their answer the specific problems presented in the reading passage.

 You have 20 minutes to plan and write your response.

​Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

It is more important to keep your old friends than it is to make new friends.

You specific reasons and examples to support your answer be sure to use your own words and do not use memorized examples.