Answer: Art historians study the factors that influence a given artist
Explanation:
The statement that is best summarizing the statement from the question is that art historians study the factors that influence a given artist which means that those are the contextual forces between them that art historians are exploring.
They are shaping artists and their oeuvres and because of that, there are historical epochs.
¨Rhythmic patterns¨ basically means beats. Itś a very general idea, just create a rhythm that fits in the specified time signature that your teacher gave you. If this wasn´t answering your question, comment on this and I´ll get back to you as soon as I can.