This popular devotional subject is taken from the Old Testament book of Isaiah (53:3-6) and is seen as a prefiguration of the Christ as the Messiah. "He is despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all."

The offered lot displays all the standard elements of this iconographic image; Christ is naked, the wounds of his passion are prominently displayed, he is crowned with thorns, he holds a reed and is attended by angels. The basic composition of this theme in art developed in Europe from the 13th century, and was especially popular in Northern Europe. The image continued to spread and develop iconographical complexity until well after the Renaissance, but the Man of Sorrows in its many artistic forms is the most precise visual expression of the piety of the later Middle Ages, which took its character from mystical contemplation rather than from theological speculation. Together with the Pietà, it was the most popular of the devotional images detached from the narrative of Christ's Passion.