Eagle's head from life 1870

Curator: What strikes me first is the almost unsettling intensity of its gaze. The amber eye seems to follow you. Editor: You’re right. There's something piercing about it. Before us is John Ruskin's 1870 watercolor, “Eagle’s Head From Life.” Ruskin, primarily known as an art critic and social thinker, possessed considerable artistic skill himself, as evidenced by this remarkable piece. Curator: The eagle, of course, is loaded with symbolism. Strength, courage, freedom. The classical world looked upon them as symbols of Zeus, with solar power connected to the sky and thunder. It also appears prominently in biblical and contemporary American imagery. The layers are really complex here. Editor: Absolutely, it’s fascinating how such symbolic weight is carried within this relatively small-scale portrait. For Ruskin, representing nature truthfully held great moral significance, and I wonder if that's playing out here? In its detail, this drawing almost holds an unsettling power. What was Ruskin saying through this majestic but undeniably predatory avian gaze? Curator: Given Ruskin's concern with the moral implications of art, it is useful to know he produced many educational works in the 1870s. He spent significant periods in schools showing techniques for drawing landscapes and architecture in a new precise style to draw out a kind of morality, you know? His ideas connect artistic accuracy to broader ethical development. Editor: It's almost as if he's trying to instill something profound within the observer, rather than simply depicting an animal. Curator: Yes. Perhaps Ruskin used the potent iconography of the eagle, its commanding presence, to reflect on Britain’s position as an Imperial power in 1870. After all, a simple depiction could be seen to carry meanings connected to morality, or contemporary public roles. Editor: It is tempting to see this Eagle staring as if into a mirror, but that only reflects a moment and is an action in itself. Curator: So well observed. What might at first seem like a simple nature study soon spirals outwards into larger social and political questions that dominated Ruskin’s life.