Head of a Horse 1821

Alexander Orlowski rendered this Head of a Horse in pen. Consider the prominent eye, wide and expressive, suggesting a depth of emotion and vitality that transcends mere representation. Since antiquity, the horse has been a symbol of power, freedom, and even untamed instinct. Think of the steeds of Poseidon, or the wild horses of the Steppe, emblems of raw energy. Note the open mouth; the horse seems to be in a state of distress. This gesture of agony echoes the ancient motif of the pathos formula, a visual device used to convey suffering. Remember the figures in Laocoön and His Sons, their faces contorted in torment. Such expressions tap into our collective memory, resonating with primal emotions of fear and vulnerability. This drawing captures the horse not just as an animal, but as a mirror reflecting our own psychological depths. The symbol of the horse, thus, becomes a carrier of cultural memory, a powerful image that resurfaces across epochs, transformed but never fully divorced from its primal roots.