The archipelago of Madeira, found on maps from the 13th century, was officially rediscovered in 1419. It became an excellent testing ground for many of the Portuguese activities and solutions for the world in expansion.
Settlement of the islands began in 1425, for which they divided into three captaincies. In Porto Santo, the first captain was Bartolomeu Perestrelo. Madeira Island was divided between João Gonçalves Zarco, first captain of Funchal, and Tristão Vaz, donatory captain of Machico.
Following the land distribution regime of the sesmarias, many Portuguese came from various regions and began to open up the land, on which the production of cereals was especially important.

About 1433, by decision of Prince Henry, a new plant was tried on the island of Madeira: sugar cane. This crop rapidly turned into a remarkable business for many, abruptly changing the financial dimension of the island, now involved in a production that reached beyond the Portuguese borders. Flanders became the main redistribution centre for trading sugar, which began to be exported directly in 1472. In 1498, D. Manuel I prohibited the shipping of more than 120 thousand arrobas from the island, determining the amount for each port, with that of Flanders benefiting the most.

The Portuguese trading station that had been in Bruges since 1444 was gradually replaced by the one at Antwerp at the end of the 15th century, which would be transformed into an important diplomatic centre. Even today, the importance of the sugar trade is evidenced by the existence of the “canal du sucre” and “ruelle du sucre”.
Some of the administrators were intermediaries in the purchase of works of Flemish art for Portugal.
By order of D. Manuel, the administrator, Manuel Fernandes, went to Flanders to take care of "the sale of his sugar from the Island of Madeira".
In his diary, the great artist Albrecht Durer wrote: “The administrator Brandão offered me two large and beautiful loaves of refined sugar, and two pots of sugar in preserve”.
Thus, Madeira has a special importance in the axis of these relations between Flanders and Portugal.

There were also many foreigners who came to Madeira for the sugar trade, especially Italians, Basques, Catalans and Flemish. The firm Despars, for example, and that of Gerard Nieuland, based in Lisbon, sent their representatives to Madeira. Some moved to Madeira permanently, such as João Lombardo, brother of João Lombaert de Bruges, or Jeanin Esmenaut, whose Portuguese name was João Esmeraldo. He settled in his manor house in Ponta do Sol, and in Funchal, where he even received Christopher Columbus on his third trip to America.

The sugar from Madeira reached its high point in the 1520s, coinciding in an interesting way with the decades from 1510 through the 1520s and the date of the majority of the works of Flemish art for the island. The principal imported works were paintings, fancy triptychs, or mixed retables, as well as important images from Bruges, Antwerp, and Malines. Also imported were objects in silver and copper, as well as tomb stones with metal inlays, from Flanders and Hainault, such as those seen in the Cathedral in Funchal.
The economic power of the clients led them to opt for works of gigantic proportions that excel in their great quality.