Giambologna was celebrated for his ability to bring a sense of movement and action into solid materials. This wax model is rare and fragile, a study for the finished relief, which was cast in bronze. The figure of Christ occupies the centre of the composition: tied to a column and stripped to the waist, he seems about to flinch as the guards draw back their arms to whip him. The Flagellation of Christ is one of six scenes Giambologna depicted for the Grimaldi Chapel in San Francesco di Castelletto, Genoa, all drawn from the ‘Passion of Christ’ series of events leading up to Christ’s death by crucifixion.

This relief expresses the physical and emotional intensity that found favour with Giambologna’s patrons, among whom were the Medicis, a powerful Tuscan banking family extremely influential in financing and shaping the Italian Renaissance.

Although born in Flanders, Giambologna spent most of his adult life in Florence and became one of the most important sculptors of the sixteenth century. The Flagellation of Christ achieves a balance between the classical geometry of the Renaissance and the sense of spiralling movement associated with the Mannerist art of which he was an early exponent.