The Davies Sisters IELTS Reading Answers with Explanation

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IELTS Reading Practice Test - The Davies Sisters

The Davies Sisters

Between 1908 and 1924, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies amassed one of the largest collections of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century French paintings in Britain.

Gwendoline (1882–1951) and Margaret (1884–1963) Davies were the granddaughters of David Davies, a Welshman who amassed a fortune in the shipping and mining industries. In 1907, when Gwendoline came into her inheritance (Margaret would follow in 1909), the sisters were said to be the wealthiest unmarried women in Britain. Their religious upbringing in rural Wales gave them a deep sense of social responsibility and they chose to use their inheritance for cultural and philanthropic* purposes.
While there was no real family history of art collecting, the sisters’ education was rigorously geared toward such pursuits. Their London school focused on cultural rather than academic study, and they travelled extensively with their governess, Jane Blaker, visiting art galleries and making extensive notes on the collections there.
The sisters began to make regular art purchases from 1908, which roughly coincided with the dates of their inheritance. They took advice from various people, including the art dealer Hugh Blaker (the brother of Jane Blaker) and David Croal Thompson, who was also an art dealer. While it was long assumed that these men were largely responsible for the nature of the sisters’ collection, it has recently been accepted that Gwendoline and Margaret retained a far more active role in the process.
The sisters’ journals reveal their preference for Old Master** paintings. Yet they initially made very few attempts to secure any such works. While the sisters were wealthy in relative terms, their income was nothing compared to the fortunes of American art collectors of this period, such as J. Pierpont Morgan. Quite simply, high quality Old Master works were, if not beyond their means, then beyond what they were willing to pay for them. Instead, their early purchases were of the fashionable, safe variety, and included, for example, paintings by the French artist Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot.
However, it was only a few years before their collecting took a new direction and they turned to the work of the French Impressionists***. We know that Hugh Blaker, as a champion of contemporary French art had a hand in the decision, and we know also that they would have seen examples on their various trips to Paris. Whatever the precise reason for this change, their first purchases of Impressionist art, made in October 1912, were scenes of Venice by the French artist Claude Monet. Over the next 12 years, the sisters amassed the bulk of their Impressionist collection, including six further works by Monet, two more by Manet, and three by Renoir, including his well-known painting La Parisienne.
The First World War (1914–1918) played a part in the development of the sisters’ collection. Their initial response to the war effort was to finance the safe passage of artists from occupied Belgium to Wales, as a humanitarian act, but also with the hope of establishing a vibrant artists’ community in the area. Later in the conflict, both sisters decided to volunteer at a canteen for troops at Troyes, in northern France; Gwendoline in 1916, followed by Margaret in 1917.
It was tedious and distressing work, which would have a permanent effect on Gwendoline’s health. Yet on one of numerous trips to nearby Paris, she visited the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery. Here she acquired two works by Cézanne – Provençal Landscape and The François Zola Dam. The paintings were shipped directly to Bath, England, where they became the first works by Cézanne to go on display in a public gallery in Britain.
Commentators have often described the sisters as unlikely pioneer collectors. Much is made of their isolation in rural Wales, and the fact that they didn’t make friends with artists or gallery owners. Yet they didn’t feel obliged to follow fashionable tastes and were free to pursue their own preferences. Although they relied on a trusted circle of advisers, they made frequent trips to London and Paris, and also regularly had paintings sent to their home for consideration.
By the early 1920s, Gwendoline felt increasingly uncomfortable buying art works when faced with the poverty and social upheaval created by the First World War. Her philanthropic pursuits then became focused almost exclusively on social causes and the development of the sisters’ home at Gregynog Hall into a conference center and venue for the Gregynog Festival of Music and Poetry. Gwendoline made her final art purchase in March 1926. Margaret also stopped collecting around this time, but started again in the 1930s acquiring, on a relatively small scale, work by contemporary British artists.
The sisters collected French Impressionist paintings at a time when such art was routinely ignored by individuals and institutions alike. The Gwendoline and Margaret Davies collection, donated in 1951 and 1963 respectively to the National Museum Wales, contains major examples of work by leading French Impressionists. In collecting paintings that they loved, the sisters created a lasting and meaningful cultural legacy for the people of Wales and beyond.
___________
*philanthropic: seeking to promote the welfare of others, often by charitable funding
**Old Master: : a highly respected artist of great skill who worked in Europe before about 1800
***Impressionist: an artist with a style of painting that developed in France in the late 1800s by Renoir, including his well-known

Gwendoline and Margaret Davies

Family and early life
Their grandfather’s wealth came from ﻿ and transportation businesses
Their upbringing gave them a sense of social responsibility
Their ﻿ was designed to give them an interest in activities such as collecting art
Their governess took them on trips to art galleries
They took lengthy ﻿ about the things they saw in art galleries
The sisters as art collectors
Their ﻿ showed they liked Old Master paintings, but they were expensive to buy
Their early purchases were safe, popular paintings
The first Impressionist paintings they bought showed places in ﻿
Impact of First World War
They helped bring artists from Belgium to Wales
They worked in a ﻿ for soldiers in France
Opinions about the sisters as art collectors
Were not considered typical collectors – they lived in isolation in the countryside and did not have any ﻿ who were artists

GIẢI THÍCH CÂU 1

Định vị

Paraphrasing

Câu hỏi: Their grandfather’s wealth came from _____ and transportation businesses. → mining

So với nội dung bài đọc:

Their grandfather’s wealth came from = the granddaughters of David Davies, a Welshman who amassed a fortune

transportation businesses = shipping (industries)

____ (businesses) = mining industries

Giải thích chi tiết

✅ Step 1: Phân tích câu hỏi

Their grandfather’s wealth came from _____ and transportation businesses .

Ý câu hỏi: Tài sản của ông nội/ông ngoại họ đến từ 2 lĩnh vực kinh doanh: _____ và vận tải.

Dự đoán ô trống:

Loại từ: noun
Nghĩa/loại thông tin: một ngành kinh doanh song song với “transportation businesses”
Vì câu hỏi nói về wealth came from A and B businesses, nên ô trống phải là một lĩnh vực/industry

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✅ Step 2: Locate bằng chứng

Vì câu hỏi này không có từ khoá đặc biệt để tìm, ta sẽ theo hướng đọc nhanh phần mở đầu về gia đình của hai chị em. Khi đọc đến cụm:

“amassed a fortune in the shipping and mining industries”

ta sẽ thấy giống với:

“wealth came from _____ and transportation businesses”

=> biết đây là câu liên quan.

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✅ Step 3: Đọc câu bằng chứng theo Linearthinking

Gwendoline (1882–1951) and Margaret (1884–1963) Davies were the granddaughters of David Davies , a Welshman who amassed a fortune in the shipping and mining industries .

Lưu ý từ khó:

amassed a fortune = tích luỹ được một khối tài sản lớn
shipping = ngành vận tải đường biển / vận chuyển hàng hoá
Trong câu hỏi, transportation businesses là cách paraphrase của shipping industries

=> Chốt ý cần điền vào ô trống: tài sản của ông ấy đến từ shipping + mining, nên ô trống là mining.

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✅ Step 4: Compare with options

Đáp án đúng: mining

❌ Những đáp án “bẫy”:

education: xuất hiện sau đó trong bài khi nói về việc hai chị em được giáo dục như thế nào, không liên quan đến nguồn tài sản của ông.
notes / journals: chỉ là thứ hai chị em viết hoặc ghi chép, không phải ngành kinh doanh.
Venice / canteen / friends: đều là chi tiết ở các đoạn sau. Nếu chỉ skim/scan thấy từ quen trong bài mà không đọc đúng câu bằng chứng thì rất dễ chọn sai.

Lưu ý

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