Essentially a small painting on parchment, this image appears to have been created as an independent object for private devotion. According to a letter formerly pasted onto its back, which refers to it as a "tablet," the miniature once belonged to the Medici pope Clement VII (r. 1523–34) and in 1591 was given as a gift by Pope Gregory XIV to Christine of Lorrain, grand duchess of Tuscany. As stated in the letter, she would be granted plenary indulgence for her sins every time she prayed before the image "for the Salvation of the Christian religion and the Church, in the struggle against heresy." The work is among the rare surviving masterpieces by Francesco Marmitta da Parma, who was active as a goldsmith, engraver of gems, painter, and illuminator.
