Paternoster (sculpture)

Paternoster (FCR 243), also known as Shepherd and Sheep or Shepherd with his Flock,[1] is an outdoor bronze sculpture of 1975 by Elisabeth Frink, installed in Paternoster Square near St Paul's Cathedral in London, United Kingdom.

The subject of the artwork reflects the former use of Paternoster Row as the site of Newgate Market for the sale of livestock and meat, and may also have theological overtones of the Good Shepherd, reflecting its position in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral.

It may draw inspiration from husbandry in the Cévennes region of France, where Frink spent time at the vineyard of her second husband Edward Pool in the late 1960s to early 1970s, or from Picasso's 1944 sculpture Man with Sheep, and may also play on the religious and linguistic similarity between the Latin paternoster ("our father") and pastor (shepherd).

The work was commissioned by Trafalgar House for the north side of its 1960s development at Paternoster Square.

Around the same time, Trafalgar House also commissioned Frink's Horse and Rider statue, unveiled at Dover Street on Piccadilly in 1975.