 Bernini started the project in 1671, but his work on two other major works—"The Tomb of Pope Alexander VII" and the "Altar of the Blessed Sacrament" in St. Peter's Basilica—delayed his work on the funerary monument.Bernini completed the sculpture in 1674; it was installed by 31 August 1674.The subject of the sculpture, Ludovica Albertoni, was a Roman noblewoman who entered the Third Order of St. Francis following the death of her husband.