TSA artists tended to paint Nuevomexicano subjects tied to the northern New Mexico earth, often as farmers or herders, in a harsh and unforgiving environment. Several (Victor Higgins, W. Herbert Dunton, Ernest Blumenschein, and Hennings) painted shepherds. Hennings painted this powerful portrait of Damian Mondragon, who also appeared as a stalwart guardian of his flock with his back to the viewer in the artist’s monumental canvas The Goatherder.

Dressed in the same sheepskin-lined coat and hat, Mondragon embodies grim determination, with the presumed strength of his Catholic faith represented by the chapel in the background. The red willow next to the chapel reinforces the Nuevomexicano place in the Taos locale.