During his stay in Rome to follow the bureaucratic process of the Sacra Rota for the annulment of his second marriage (to Maria Geronima De Mari), Paolo Francesco Spinola, last descendant of the Spinola di San Luca, took the opportunity to commission this work by Angelica Kauffmann, then protagonist of the most advanced artistic culture of the city. It is, hence, thanks to her, that we have this canvas (signed 1793) depicting the melancholy face of Paolo Francesco reading in his study, an image indicative of his refined taste and culture. According to the account books kept in the archive it was transferred from Rome (where the painting was executed) to Genoa in 1796 (the archive reports the payment for the transport), while it was only in 1824, that the payment to the gilder Laviosa for the execution of the frame is recorded.