The Assumption of the Virgin is narrated in a late legend, inspired by the Prophet Elias`s vision and by the Ascension of Christ. It was only declared an article of faith in 1950, after centuries during which belief in it was considered a question of personal piety. According to this legend, after her death the Virgin was carried to heaven by angels in the presence of the Apostles. Unlike Christ, Mary ascended with their aid, rather than by her own means, although western artists sometimes eliminated the group of angels. Such is the case with the Assumption, 1516-18, that Titian painted for the church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, which Annibale Carracci closely followed in his different versions of the same subject.

This painting is not mentioned by Annibale`s earliest biographers, but there has been speculation as to the possibility that it was purchased in Italy by the Count of Monterrey when the latter was ambassador to Rome (1628-31) or viceroy to Naples (1631-37). He, in turn, gave it to Philip IV, who then sent it to the monastery of El Escorial, Madrid. It remained there between 1657 and 1839, when it then entered the Museo del Prado.

Hermann Voss considered this painting a reworking of the Assumption now at the Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, which Annibale painted in 1587. Donald Posner later refuted this opinion, describing it instead as an earlier experiment. Compared to the Dresden work, which Daniele Benati considered slightly later in date -at a time when the artist had reached `the more Olympian and serene expressive world of Paolo Veronese`s The Assumption of the Virgin, c.1587, must belong to the moment when Annibale was most influenced by Venetian painting. This is apparent in both the importance of colour and the Corinthian colonnade in the background. Moreover, this canvas`s daring composition would seem to indicate it was an earlier work and, in fact, may represent Annibale`s first idea, which would have been further developed in the more measured work now in Dresden. This does not necessarily mean, however, that this painting should be considered a mere study for the latter. Annibale added touches of naturalism to both works, especially in his characterisation of the Apostles and the Virgin, and this allowed him to depict a miraculous event with almost unprecedented naturalness. At the same time, he accentuated the dramatic aspects of the scene by representing the Ascension in foreshortened profile, rather than from the front, as was then customary. Also, by making Mary the protagonist of her own Ascension, with less dependence on angelic intervention, Annibale emphasised the belief in her future resurrection in body and soul.

According to Clare Robertson, this painting could be a fine example of the sort of commissions that Ludovico, Agostino and Annibale Carracci took on in the late sixteenth century. It would also reveal their interdependence at a moment when, according to Carlo Cesare Malvasia, they accepted commissions for the private chapels of gentlemen who spent the summer in their country villas. The intended locations of such works would explain the frequency of subjects such as the Assumption. At any rate, in this work, Annibale`s compositional advances, use of colour, and representation of his characters` affetti (movements of their souls) through their gestures announces the new direction his painting was to take in the following years (Riello, J.: Italian Masterpieces. From Spain`s Royal Court, Museo del Prado, 2014, p. 98).