Portable Tabernacle with the Pietà, Saint Cecilia and Saint Hermenegild

In 1603 Cardinal Odoardo Farnese ordered a shrine he could open for his own private prayers, and Annibale Carracci designed it for him. It is a small cabinet of ebony and gold, under half a metre high, painted on copper and wood, with doors that fold shut. Closed, it shows Saint Michael and the guardian angel, with Christ and God the Father above them, protectors for whoever kept it. Opened, the centre holds the dead Christ mourned by his mother, Saint John and Mary Magdalene. On the inner doors stand Saint Cecilia and Saint Hermenegild, a Visigothic prince of Spain, each above a small scene of their martyrdom. The museum says Annibale conceived the whole and that pupils helped him paint some of the scenes, and scholars still argue over which ones. The back keeps a record of the shrine's travels. Written there are its number in the collection of Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga, 723, its Torlonia number, 250, and the weight of the gold in its fittings, 13 ounces and eight denari.