Spanish school of the 16th century. "Assumption of the Virgin Mary". Oil on panel. It presents important damages, restorations and repainting. Measurements: 104,5 x 71 cm. The one we present here is a Renaissance painting of devotional character in which the composition acquires a clear decorative sense, with the angels surrounding Mary like a garland of flowers. Mary s face is turned and slightly inclined, reflecting humility and piety and compensating for the ascending sense of the image in a subtle and well thought-out manner. The Virgin is dressed in red, blue and white, deeply symbolic colours, related respectively to the Passion, the concepts of truth and eternity, and purity. The figure occupies the exact centre of the pictorial surface, in a perfectly balanced and rigorously symmetrical composition, which does not seek naturalism but elevated spiritual expression. The angels appear around her, raising her towards the sky. We see two angels on either side, in practically identical positions, although the painter introduces variety by changing the tone of their clothes. Around the Virgin s head we see a perfectly circular halo of golden light. The figures are set against a background of shimmering golden sky. The expression Assumption is significant: it is opposed to Ascension, like the passive to the active. In other words, Mary does not ascend to heaven by her own means, like Christ, but is raised to Paradise by the angels. Byzantine art depicts the Assumption of the Virgin s soul, taken up by Christ on his deathbed. Western art, on the other hand, depicts her bodily Assumption outside the tomb where the apostles had buried her. A distinction must therefore be made in iconography between the Assumption of the Virgin s soul in the form of a child and the Assumption of her glorious body, the latter being the one depicted here. The European model presents Mary as we see her in this work: in a prayerful attitude, raising her joined hands and surrounded by golden light, carried by angels and leaving the open tomb at her feet, which may appear empty or filled with lilies and roses. In this case the painter eliminates this detail, possibly to focus the viewer s attention and limit the narrative sense of the image. As a result of iconographic confusion, the Assumption loses its original character and becomes the Ascension. Instead of being lifted up by angels, the Virgin flies alone, with her arms outstretched; the angels around her merely form a procession. This transformation was consummated in 16th-century Italian art, and gradually spread to the rest of Europe. However, this new formula did not eliminate the old one, examples of which can be found in the 17th century.