Christ at the Whipping Post

Walker produced numerous sculptures on religious themes both in Britain and the USA and was a prolific maker of war memorials. His best known work is the memorial to Florence Nightingale in London's Waterloo Place. The subject here - the Flagellation of Christ - stems from the Bible and was common in Western European art. The use of chryselephantine (ivory and stone) might have seemed old-fashioned, being a popular technique in the 1800s especially among Art Nouveau artists. The image of Christ's suffering may well have had contemporary resonances.

Credit: Presented by the Trustees of the Chantrey Bequest 1925