The painting "The Assumption of the Virgin" has a mannerist influence. Mannerism was a 16th-century style of art influenced by and at the same time a reaction to the harmonious ideals of the Italian High Renaissance. Mannerism is notable for its artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities that favor compositional tension and instability rather than the balance and clarity of earlier Renaissance painting. El Greco's artistic training in Rome and Venice reflects the influence of Roman mannerist designs (e.g. Michelangelo's masterful drawings). refined designs) and that of the Venetian school of painting with its emphasis on the richness and variety of colours, the use of pigments to obtain the impression of depth and brightness, represented by Titian. However, after his long stay in Toledo, Spain, El Greco's painting style transformed from one of marked Italian influence to one more personal and dramatic, in which the artificial and unreal elements were intensified. However, his paintings were not just the product of spiritual visions or emotional reactions, but of the intentional creation of artificial, anti-naturalistic art. To appreciate the development of El Greco's original artistic style it is essential to understand the religious context in which it flourished. El Greco lived in an era of theological renewal and zealous spiritual reform. Toledo, the city where the painting "The Assumption of the Virgin" was created, was the ecclesiastical capital of Spain in the 16th century and a place of intense religious activity. This activity took place in the context of the spirit of the Catholic Counter-Reformation which encouraged the spiritual reform of the individual and gave authoritative support to the search for...... middle of paper...... devotional images which inspired meditation, to the series of “portraits” of the Apostles. Altarpieces were the main form of church decoration, which consisted of paintings and polychrome gilded wood carvings in a structure that followed a Renaissance architectural style. This is the case of the painting "The Assumption of the Virgin" which was part of a private commission for the decoration of the convent church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo in Toledo, Spain. The decoration centered on an altarpiece that framed multiple images, of which "The Assumption" was the central painting on the lower level. The funds for the construction and decoration of the convent church came from the estate of a wealthy noblewoman, Maria de Silva. According to contemporary belief, it was implicitly assumed that the donor's salvation was guaranteed by his good works and charity..