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Spinazzi worked in Rome and, chiefly, Florence where he was the court sculptor for the Grand Duke Leopold I. He carved a statue of Faith for the apse of the church of Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi. Traditionally, Faith is depicted as a soberly dressed young woman holding up a chalice and Bible. Spinazzi includes these props, but drapes a sheer veil over the figures head. Beneath it we can discern an expression of mystical ecstasy illuminating the features of this curiously attired yet not inelegant cardinal virtue. The sculptor has in fact enriched the allegory with another level of meaning: Faith reveals itself in an inward gaze; it is God-given and transcends the mere senses.
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