The eleven large cartoons, plus probably the four High Altar cartoons, plus the other smaller ones, were sent, by order of King Philip IV of Spain, from the Palace at Brussels to the Spanish Court.

The King's letter, dated the 6th of January 1648, mentions "paintings or models" and the appended memorandum specifies:
"Fifteen large paintings on canvas, and other smaller ones, painted in oil for the tapestry of the Triumph of the Church, the history of the Holy Sacrament, which Infanta sent to the Royal Barefoot Nuns of her Majesty the Empress at Madrid, and which had remained rolled up in the palace, in the Gallery of the Emperors, under the charge of Jean de Benero, Treasurer of the late Infante."

(Spanish text published by Max Rooses, L'Euvre de P.-P. Rubens, vol.I, p.73.)