In August 1798, Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen commissioned a monument to honor his wife, Archduchess Maria Cristina of Austria, who died a few months earlier. The great novelty of the creation lies in the choice of the pyramid shape given to the tomb: the idea reworked an old project, never realized, for a monument to Titian to be raised in the church of the Frari in Venice, of which some models in terracotta remain.