This is a sketch for the altar triptych created for the chapel of the Brotherhood of St Ildephonsus in the Church of St James (Eglise St-Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels). The triptych, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, was commissioned from Rubens by the Infanta Isabella in 1630.
According to legend, when St Ildephonsus (606-667), Archbishop of Toledo from 657, came to church on the eve of the feast of the Assumption, the Virgin herself appeared to him in a company of holy maidens and angels. She bestowed on Ildefonsus a sumptuous vestment in reward for his zealous defence of the Immaculate Conception dogma. The genuflecting donors are depicted left and right - the Infanta Isabella with St Elizabeth of Hungary and Archduke Albert with St Albert of Liège.
This sketch was acquired for the Hermitage in Catherine II's time, before 1774.