Shepherd Boy

This statuette of a shepherd boy was made probably primarily for foreign visitors to Málaga, Spain. It may have originally formed part of a group of the 'Annunciation to the Shepherds', or the 'Adoration of the Shepherds', in the tradition of Neapolitan crib groups. Such terracotta figures were popular and well-crafted items illustrating folk costumes and traditions in the area. Many were sold to foreign visitors to the area. John Ruskin's parents evidently owned examples of such figures, his father being a London wine merchant with Spanish contacts. This piece is signed by Salvador Gutiérrez de León, one of a school of sculptors based in Málaga who specialised in genre figures of this type. His son Rafael Gutiérrez de León (1805-1855) also made such figures.