Ferdinand is the main Salers bull on a farm near Beaumont-le-Roger, and every calf on the place traces back to him - which makes him a local legend, and gives him an unbothered, territorial presence that's ideal for a portrait. Salers carry a deep mahogany coat and long, lyre-shaped horns sweeping out and upward from the head; on a bull of Ferdinand's standing they are a dominant feature.

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I spent a week at the farm that October sculpting a quarter life-size maquette. My only real access was at feeding time, when he'd settle enough to let me get close - sometimes close enough to touch - without ever forgetting who was in charge. I brought the maquette home and used it as the reference for the full-size bronze, every proportion scaled up from what I'd actually seen and handled that week.. The finished piece now stands on a Purbeck stone plinth outside the house at Beaumont-le-Roger.

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