Paard en wagen en werklui op een bouwterrein bij het huidige Russell Square te Londen 1807

John Linnell sketched this drawing of horses, wagons, and workers at a construction site near Russell Square in London in 1807. Here, the horse, an ancient symbol, appears not in heroic battle or mythical tales, but as a beast of burden in the modernizing city. This echoes the classical motif of the animal spirit yoked to human labor. We see the horse as a representation of instinct and raw power, harnessed for the purpose of progress. Reflect for a moment on how different this is from, say, the winged horses of antiquity. This harnessing evokes a powerful tension: the subjugation of the natural world in service to human ambition. It is a recurring theme in art, revealing our complex relationship with nature and progress.