The Good Shepherd

ven considering his success as a religious painter, Murillo's images of the Infant Christ and the Infant Saint John the Baptist were remarkably sought after by both Spanish and foreign collectors. Not only did these pictures have obvious decorative appeal and hung well in the luxurious interiors of the wealthy and devout, but they were ideal for private chapels. In Seville, Murillo sold many of these paintings to his main patrons, Don Justino de Neve and Nicolás Omazur, but they were also coveted by English collectors, such as Joseph Townsend, who wrote that during his travels in Spain he did not find works by any other artist that "equalled [Murillo] in expression and sweetness". In fact, for a time, Murillo's work was far more famous in England than in Spain, and its presence in British collections later inspired paintings by Gainsborough, Reynolds and Greuze. The charm of these paintings and their call to human emotion helped make complex theological concepts accessible and gave these images a mass appeal that endures; they are still some of most widely reproduced artworks in the Catholic Church.

Placed in a nominally classical setting, made intimate by his typically shallow composition, in The Good Shepherd, Murillo has combined his gift for painting children, with an almost Rococo palette, and a limpid, silver sense of light to create images that expressed both spiritual divinity and human vulnerability. The Infant Shepherd's idealised beauty is the antithesis of Murillo's street children, but he maintained a sense of naturalism in the child's casual embrace of the lamb, and its woolly fleece. Also, seizing on the fact that children with domestic animals were a common sight in Seville, Murillo knew the lamb could carry a double meaning: as the Child's pet and as His fate as the Lamb of God, allowing him to illustrate a sacred subject in the context of everyday life, therefore broadening its appeal. 

Jesus saud “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11)

This oil on canvas is in the  Collection of the Museo del Prado, Madrid