In 1562 Cambiaso decorated the Spinola chapel in the Benedictine monastery of Santa Caterina, Genoa with frescoes from the life of Saint Benedict on the side walls and in the cupola Angels and Evangelists. This chapel was destroyed and all that remains is the altarpiece (fig. 1), for which this drawing is a study, which is now in the Baptistry of the Duomo in Genoa, B.S. Manning and W. Suida, Luca Cambiaso, Milan, 1958, fig. 100. Cambiaso was commissioned by Luca Spinola which explains the inclusion of his eponymous Saint to the left of Saint Benedict.
A drawing for the same altarpiece is in the Manning Collection, B.S. Manning and W. Suida, op. cit., fig. 99. The Manning drawing is probably later than this study as there are more elements, such as the poses of the Saints, which concur with the finished work