The Triumph of the Eucharist by Peter Paul Rubens, Ca. 1625. Recorded January 28th, 2026.

American Friends helps share the Prado's collection with a weekly session in English on the museum's social media. We thank our members and donors who make all of our projects possible. Join and help us do more. https://www.afpradomuseum.org Rubens, Peter Paul (Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640) Eugenia, Isabel Clara (Valsain, 1566 - Brussels, 1633) In 1625, Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia commissioned Rubens to design a series of twenty tapestries for the Monastery of the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. The subject was the Eucharist, a leading Catholic dogma that the infanta defended in her role as sovereign princess of the southern Netherlands. Rubens conceived the scenes like victory marches, as if the cloths were hanging from baroque architecture. This effect provoked doubts about what was real and what was created by the artist. The six panels at the Museo del Prado are part of the process necessary for creating tapestries. They are models painted by Rubens as the basis for much larger cartoons that weavers follow when making tapestries.