Antonio d’Este was a contemporary and follower of Neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova. From 1799 he collaborated on Canova’s works and directed his large studio in Rome. The Deposition was based on a plaster model by Canova, dated 1800, as well as a painting of the same subject Canova made for the church he erected in his native village of Possagno, in northern Italy, one year earlier. The marble version was carved by Este shortly thereafter as a private commission. Both the religious theme and the emotive nature of its presentation show that this relief was less indebted to the Classical tradition than to Florentine Renaissance sculpture.