Long attributed to Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his day, the 1801 painting Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val...

Let's begin by understanding the meaning of this sentence. We'll use our understanding of pause points and segment the sentence as shown - understanding and assimilating the meaning of each segment bit by bit!

Sentence Structure

• Long attributed to Jacques-Louis David,
  • the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his day,
• the 1801 painting Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes
  • gained fresh attention in the 1990s
    • when art historians discovered
      • that the painting
        • —which depicts a solitary young woman sketching—
      • was actually the work of little-known French portrait artist[?] Marie-Denise Villers (1774–1821).

Where [?] = what varies in our choices (em dash, nothing, colon, or comma)

Understanding the Meaning

Let's start reading:

The sentence opens with background about the painting:

• 'Long attributed to Jacques-Louis David, the preeminent Neoclassical painter of his day'
  • This tells us people long thought David painted this work
  • He was the top Neoclassical painter of that time

The subject of the sentence:

• 'the 1801 painting Marie Joséphine Charlotte du Val d'Ognes'
  • This is the specific painting we're talking about

What happened to this painting:

• 'gained fresh attention in the 1990s'
  • People became interested in it again in the 1990s

Why did it gain attention?

• 'when art historians discovered that the painting—which depicts a solitary young woman sketching—was actually the work of...'
  • Art historians made a discovery
  • The painting shows a young woman alone, drawing
  • It was actually made by someone else, not David

This is where we have the blank.

Let's look at the choices:

• A: artist— (with em dash)
• B: artist (no punctuation)
• C: artist: (with colon)
• D: artist, (with comma)

To see what works here, let's read the complete phrase:

• 'was actually the work of little-known French portrait artist[?] Marie-Denise Villers (1774–1821)'

Now let's understand what this structure is telling us:

• 'little-known French portrait artist'
  • This describes someone's profession and type of work
  • It's telling us what kind of artist this person was

• 'Marie-Denise Villers'
  • This is the person's actual name
  • It identifies specifically WHO this artist was

What do we notice about the structure here?

• We have a descriptive noun phrase followed directly by a proper name:
  • 'artist' = the profession/description
  • 'Marie-Denise Villers' = the specific person's name

• This is like saying 'author Jane Austen' or 'President Lincoln' or 'painter Picasso'
  • The descriptive word and the name work together as one unit
  • The name identifies which specific artist we're talking about

• When a descriptive noun directly identifies a person through their proper name, no punctuation is needed between them.
  • They form one continuous noun phrase
  • The name isn't extra information—it's the essential identification

So we need: artist Marie-Denise Villers (no punctuation)

The correct answer is Choice B.

GRAMMAR CONCEPT APPLIED

No Punctuation Between Descriptive Nouns and Proper Names

When a descriptive noun (like a title, profession, or role) is directly followed by a proper name that identifies the specific person, no punctuation is needed between them. They work together as one noun phrase where the descriptive noun categorizes or modifies the proper name.

Pattern: descriptive noun + proper name = no punctuation

Examples:

1. Profession + Name:
   • Correct: "The painting was created by artist Marie-Denise Villers"
   • Incorrect: "The painting was created by artist, Marie-Denise Villers"
2. Title + Name:
   • Correct: "We studied the works of author Jane Austen"
   • Incorrect: "We studied the works of author: Jane Austen"
3. Role + Name:
   • Correct: "The speech was given by President Lincoln"
   • Incorrect: "The speech was given by President— Lincoln"

In this question:

• "little-known French portrait artist" is the descriptive noun phrase
• "Marie-Denise Villers" is the proper name that identifies which artist
• They combine into one noun phrase: "little-known French portrait artist Marie-Denise Villers"
• No punctuation needed between them

Note: This is different from an appositive (additional descriptive information set off by commas). Here, the name isn't additional information—it's the direct identification of the person being described.