Religious subjects, particularly depictions of Christ, are recurrent in Henner's work. More than an expression of religious sentiment, they appear as profound meditations on death. Like a variation on the same theme, Christ in the Shroud from the 1896 Salon is repeated here a few years later in Christ with Donors, in which he depicts members of his family on the left.
The three figures (the artist's sister-in-law and nephews Jules and Eugénie) were obviously added later, the composition being painted on three pieces of canvas sewn together, to make the painting a Christ aux donateurs in the tradition of early painting.
