For years this sculpture belonged to Tussaud's fairground in Blackpool, where it was exhibited as a curiosity, alongside other Epstein carvings. The idea for the sculpture came to the artist while he was listening to Bach's B minor Mass and looking at a large slab of alabaster in his studio. He was suddenly inspired by the idea and saw the sculpture as a whole, in his head. According to St John's Gospel, 'consummatum est' - ('It is finished') were the words Christ uttered from the Cross.