Cafà's work is something new in Roman baroque sculpture. It incorporates lessons learned from Bernini, in particular his "Memorial to Maria Raggi" (1647) and the "Ecstasy of St Theresa" (ca. 1652) as well as the use of a polychrome marble background at the relic balconies in the pillars of the crossing of Saint Peter's (1630s). In addition, Cafà pulls together recently finished or contemporary solutions from within the workshop of Ercole Ferrata of which he himself was an essential part, in particular the "Statue of St. Catherine" for Siena Cathedral, "St. Agnes on a Pyre" and the concave shaped relief "Martyrdom of Sant'Emerenziana" (both in Sant'Agnese in Agone). From these ingredients and his own artistic power, Cafà produces a highly emotive pictorial solution unseen before, neither neatly definable as a relief nor as a statue nor as a picture.