The Sheepherder

Artist:

Peter Hurd

(American, 1904 - 1984)
Sitter:

Don Patricio Trujillo

The Sheepherder

Medium: Tempera on panel
Date: 1936
Dimensions:
14 3/16 × 14 5/16 in. (36 × 36.4 cm)
Accession number: 85.10.79
Copyright: © artist, artist's estate, or other rights holders
Label Copy:
In this somber tempera painting, Peter Hurd portrays Don Patricio Trujillo, a shepherd who spent his later years roaming the Hondo Valley in New Mexico and occasionally posing for Hurd. Although he depicted Trujillo in a lithograph as well, only the painting could capture the man’s silvery white beard that so impressed Hurd. Portraying him as a humble shepherd in this portrait, Hurd must have been fascinated by Trujillo’s youth as a cowboy working on the Chisum Ranch south of Roswell in the days of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War.
Curatorial RemarksSIGNATURE