Mostra Espanha is a program of cultural activities organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sports that takes place in different locations in Portugal and its main purpose is to show the dynamism and creativity of the Spanish cultural industries at the present time. This year's Mostra Espanha program includes the exhibition at the National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon of the Guest Work “The Good Shepherd” (oil on canvas, 123 x 101.7 cm.) by Murillo, belonging to the Museo Nacional del Prado, which will be exhibited from September 2023 to January 2024, and which has the collaboration of Acción Cultural Española.
“El Buen Pastor", is an oil on canvas measuring 123 x 101 cm. by the Sevillian painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo around the year 1660, belonging to the Spanish Baroque school. The work was bought, along with others, in 1744 by Queen Isabel de Farnesio to the heirs of the cardinal and president of the Council of Castile Gaspar de Molina y Oviedo from the old collection that said cardinal owned. The painting was enlarged to be able to be shown as a couple of San Juan Bautista Niño and destined for the Palace from the Granja de San Ildefonso in 1746, later moving to the Palace of Aranjuez where it appears in two inventories of 1747 and 1774, and from there it was taken to the Royal Palace of Madrid where it remained between 1814 and 1818 until its arrival at the Prado Museum in 1819, where he continues to form a couple in his exhibition with the San Juan Bautista Niño.