In the first sentence, the way in which the author combines clauses after the main verb "is" ("what makes an artist . . . a good work of art") indicates that he

A
is arranging his topics in order of increasing relevance to the audience

B
hopes to impress the audience with the breadth of his historical knowledge

C
views all the other questions as variations of the final question

D
attaches equal importance to the topics he intends to address

E
plans to devote more attention to the last topic than to the first four