Walter Hussey first commissioned Sutherland in February 1944 when he asked him to paint a version of the Agony in the Garden for the Church of St Matthew in Northampton where he was vicar. However, Sutherland chose instead to work on a version of the Crucifixion and Hussey readily accepted this proposal. Sutherland's composition was heavily influenced by a book he had seen of photographs taken of the concentration camps of Belsen, Auschwitz and Buchenwald. He wrote, "These photographs were to have a great effect on me; I saw them just before I received a commission to paint a Crucifixion - in them many of the tortured bodies looked like figures deposed from crosses. The whole idea of the depiction of Christ crucified became much more real to me after having seen this book and it seemed to be possible to do this subject again.