The statue was designed by Vicente Santarúa and installed in 2003 by mayor Gabino de Lorenzo.El País remarked that "It looks like he is walking with a sad face and his mind somewhere else, not in Oviedo right now, although if you put yourself to his side and start a conversation with him it is so realistic that it looks as if he would answer you".[4][5][6][7] In its first year on public display, the statue was vandalised twice, including the glasses being broken in December 2003.[8] The city council said in 2008 that regular occurrences of vandalism meant that the glasses would only be repaired once a year.[10] In January 2018, the Asturias Feminist Organisation called for the statue to be removed, owing to the allegations of sexual abuse against its subject.