The Victory of Eucharistic Truth over Heresy

The prototype, in the Prado, Madrid, is one of a series of sketches for a tapestry cycle depicting The Triumph of the Eucharist commissioned by the Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia for the Convent of the Descalzas Reales, Madrid (still in situ, although not in their original settings). The commission was probably given in 1625 when Isabella passed through Antwerp (and is known to have visited the master) on her return from Breda, which had just surrendered to the forces of the Marquis of Spinola. The modello for the present composition, which probably dates from the next year, 1626, is Rubens' second and final design for the subject, his first being the sketch in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.