The Assumption of the Virgin

Painted in 1577–79, The Assumption of the Virgin was among the first great commissions of the young Spanish capital of Toledo, designed by El Greco for the high altar of the church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo. Above the gathered apostles a burst of incandescent colour lifts the Virgin into a vision of glory, her robes blazing against gilded heights where the Trinity and a chorus of angels wait to crown her. The picture set the visionary ardour and flickering light that would define El Greco’s later Spanish works, marvellously far from his Greek birthright and Venetian training. It is the crowning canvas of the Art Institute’s early El Greco holdings.