This large-scale cartoon, a full-size preparatory model for an unidentified altarpiece, is made up of six sheets of paper pasted together. The group of young women on the right indicates that the final painting was probably intended for a female religious community. One figure was later transformed into a male through the addition of a beard.

Trained in northern Italy, Bernardino Lanino was exposed to the work of Leonardo and absorbed his signature effects of chiaroscuro, strong contrasts of light and dark, and sfumato, softened outlines and hazy forms.