This figure of Christ is closely related to the corpus Giambologna made for the Convent of Santissima Annunziata, Florence in 1578 and the many examples in both patinated and gilt-bronze which follow it. These portable Crucifixes were in great demand both as diplomatic gifts from the Medici and as political/religious icons during the Counter-Reformation.

The present bronze is a variant from the one in Ss. Annunziata, in the position of the legs, the musculature of the torso, the angle of the head and the arrangement of the loin cloth. The resultant sense of motion is not found in the convent example. The surface on the present example has been worked as flesh and the loin cloth treated as woven fabric. This exquisite and intricate chasing and the fine patination indicate the hand of Antonio Susini, Giambologna's assistant and an artist who specialized in producing Crucifixes.