Italian school from the second third of the 18th century. Circle of CORRADO GIAQUINTO (Italy, 1703 - 1765/66)."The Good Shepherd".Oil on canvas.Measurements: 117 x 79 cm.Due to its formal characteristics we can relate this work to the circle of Corrado Giaquinto, an Italian painter of the eighteenth century considered the greatest representative of Rococo painting in Rome at the time. Due to his compositional mastery and his masterful use of color, the Italian artist became a point of reference for several generations of Spanish painters.Regarding the subject, the scene presents the theme of the good shepherd, a very ancient theme in Christian art, and has its roots in ancient Western art, specifically in the Muscophores of Ancient Greece. Christians will follow these iconographic models for their first representations, as we see in examples such as the catacombs of St. Callixtus. As for its meaning, the good shepherd is a biblical allegory, originally referring to Yahweh and later to Jesus Christ. The good shepherd is interpreted as God, who saves the lost sheep (the sinner).Corrado Giaquinto developed his career between Italy and Spain. He began his training in his native Molfetta with the painter Saverio Porta, and between 1719 and 1723 continued his apprenticeship in the prolific Neapolitan studio of Francesco Solimena, where he may have had Solimena or his pupil, Nicola Maria Rossi, as his teacher. In 1723 he moved to Rome to work in the studio of Sebastiano Conca, and there he produced his first important works, religious paintings in churches such as that of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. In 1727 he established himself as an independent painter, and four years later he received his first major commission, the frescoes in the church of San Nicola dei Lorenesi. In these works Giaquinto already reveals his independence from Solimena, and shows a clear influence of Luca Giordano. Although he remained in Rome until 1753, during these years he also carried out various works in Turin, invited by Filippo Juvarra. There he executed works of a secular nature such as "The Triumph of the House of Savoy" in the Villa della Regina, although he continued to produce religious works for various churches. In 1740 he was appointed member of the Academy of San Lucas in Rome, and in 1753 he went to Madrid, called by Fernando VI, to work in the new royal palaces of Madrid, El Escorial and Aranjuez. He was appointed chamber painter and general director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, as well as artistic director of the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara. He finally returned to Italy in 1762, leaving behind an important trail within the Spanish school. Works by Giaquinto are currently held in the Prado Museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Fine Arts Museum in San Francisco, the National Gallery in London, the Ashmolean in Oxford and other important public and private collections around the world.