Focus on Assumption of the Virgin (Titian) and explain the Subject.
The Assumption of Mary was a Catholic doctrine that remained optional in the early 16th century; it was not declared an article of faith until 1950.  The Franciscan order whose church the Frari is, were always keen promoters of this and other aspects of Marian theology, in particular the related doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, then still a matter of live controversy.  The doctrine held that the body of the Virgin Mary was "assumed"  or moved physically into heaven "at the end of her earthly life".  Most Catholics believed that this took place after a normal death (usually three days after in tradition), but some that Mary was still alive when it happened, a question that Munificentissimus Deus in 1950 was careful not to settle.  At the base of the picture, glimpses of Mary's stone sarcophagus can be discreetly seen, allowing those believing in an assumption before death to ignore it or regard it as something else.The broad composition of Titian's painting, with a group of apostles below a rising Mary, shown as alive, who moves towards a group of angels in heaven, follows earlier depictions in art, though such an imagined scene did not form part of the doctrine.  The related scene of the Coronation of the Virgin in heaven had tended to be replaced by scenes showing the moment of the actual assumption, as here, which was often combined with it.  Here the angel accompanying God the Father on the right holds out a crown, which he is about to place on her head.
Assumption of Mary Titian Munificentissimus Deus article of faith Virgin Mary until 1950 Immaculate Conception of Mary God the Father Marian theology Immaculate Conception Franciscan order Frari Coronation of the Virgin