The 'Christ' attributed to Pietro Torrigiani now in the Wallace Collection in London originally adorned an external wall of the Islip Chapel in Westminster Abbey. The present paper makes an in-depth study of this singular placement and the role the work played within the English royal church. Firstly, the 'Christ', hitherto studied only as a bust, is identified as a tondo, a sculptural genre of Florentine origin which carried important devotional implications. As a tondo, the 'Christ' was thus especially suitable for its positioning on the Islip Chapel, a private funerary chapel also destined for the celebration of the cult of Jesus. As this space was carefully planned out to engage with crucial areas of the church, the 'Christ' specifically responded to its surroundings by acting as a catalyst for the chapel's primary function: the invocation of intercessory prayers for the deceased. Masterfully carved with a naturalism previously unknown in England, as a depiction of the Holy Face the tondo also served as a devotional image for the cult of Jesus. Abbot Islip's partaking in this typically late medieval devotion is demonstrated by his prayer book, analyzed here for the first time in relation to the Wallace tondo.