Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria
Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, is the first known owner of the series of paintings; he presented them in 1634 to the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, who had just become governor of the Spanish Netherlands following the deaths of Albert and Isabella. Ferdinand in turn offered them through the Duke of Medina de las Torres to his brother King Philip IV of Spain, who hung them in the reading room at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid. They were subsequently housed in other royal palaces in Madrid and became part of the founding collection of the Prado in 1819.