Could someone please explain this?

I was down to A and E and picked A because I didn't think E went far enough when it said persistance was noted? isn't noted just acknowledged? I thought the final paragraph went a lot further than that? I thought the determinism stuff was to refine the ideas presented earlier in the passage, like the viewpoint about W's workbeing witty and amiable?

While noted is a slightly underwhelming term, it does completely describe what the author does. The author in the final paragraph gives us a fairly good overview of how the mistaken view of Watteau has survived despite its clear factual issues. I wouldn't worry about a term being too weak as long as it is still factually accurate, although I would worry about being too strong. Note that this does not apply to questions that ask about the authors tone.