José Guitérrez Solana expressed his enthusiasm for Spanish religious imagery on several occasions. He found a possible source for the renewal of contemporary sculpture in its volumetric sensibility and expression. The Solana brothers kept a fair collection of antique carvings which this piece is based on.

In the 1920s, following the influx of new forms of realism in Spain, Solana began to use the small statues by stripping them of their religious context, observing only their artistic and expressive characteristics and inner life. In Santos del pueblo [Town Saints] the notion of objects “being sufficient in and of themselves” was underlined by his portrayal of a range of sculptures of varying dimensions through different artistic languages: two Christs, one female martyr saint, one Saint Roch and one Virgin Mary; figures that the artist arranged in front of a light background to highlight their expressivity and volume.