After a month, the altarpiece-makers gathered in said church and there they showed their drawings, their devised design and their work and payment conditions to the clergy and butlers of the parish church. These men chose one of these offers, then showed it to all the contestants to commence the bidding. That auction lasted the time that a candle takes to consume (although some times it was three candles' time), and the job was given to the master whose bid was on top at that moment. The next requisite was that either the assigned master had to pay a warranty deposit, or he had to present other colleagues as guarantors. Once this session was finished, the contract was signed before a notary. There was also a commission of masters who were in charge of assuring that the project carried out as planned. The Roman influence of Michelangelo and his followers reflected in the first stage of the Counter-Reformation is the style which the Trasmeran masters complied with. Images are represented with great realism and expressivity; the suffering of the saints and martyrs is patent. The most clear example of this tendency is Juan de Anchieta, disciple of Juan de Juni. After that, the style of the masters evolved, and half past the 17th century they let into their work the influence of Gregorio Fernández. The altarpiece workhouses imitated and spread the new trends until the tastes changed, and by the end of that century images are gradually removed, so the altarpiece structure got represented by other kind of decoration. Bellfounding in Cantabria is tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages. The "comarca" of Trasmiera was a cradle for prestigious bellfounders, whose fame transcended the Spanish borders, which granted them works in some part of Europe and America. They reached such significance that many specialists remark that there is no cathedral, basilica or church that hasn't had in its belfries some work of a Cantabrian bellmaker. In Trasmiera the job was carried out basically in the Seven Villas Assembly (made up of the villages of Ajo, Arnuero, Bareyo, Castillo Siete Villas, Güemes, Isla, Meruelo, Noja and Soano) where bellmaking workshops abounded then. This knowledge was transmitted from fathers to sons through the centuries, constituting real sagas of master bellmakers. This importance allowed the fact that important cathedrals in Mexico or Peru have bells made by Trasmerans "in situ".