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Petrarch's poem in six chapters titled I Trionfi (Triumphs) was a frequently represented theme for artists in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is an allegory with a moral lesson: the triumph of Love is vanquished by the triumph of Chastity, while Death triumphs over Chastity but is defeated by Fame, which in turn dwindles before Time. It all comes to rest with the triumph of Eternity.
Coxcie, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Italian art and was active in Italy in the 1530s, produced his allegorical series of five sheets in his Brussels period, perhaps as preparatory for tapestries.
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