I had the privelege of viewing the canvas in it's current home at Regal Villa, home of John and Jean Palin in St Peter Port.

It's a great piece of prophetic art. My first impression was drawn towards the prominent conflict between light and dark and the story: the reds, oranges and golden yellows told in contrast to the cracked blues and greens. I found it easy to locate meaning within such a small space, as the painting itself was probably only 2 x 2.5 ft. With a dramatic thickly applied realism style, to match that of Gauguin and Van Gogh, the painting shows off great balance in the main feature of the eagle 'it almost flexes it's muscles proudly in suspension' and leaves something extra for the imagination to play around with in those messy brush strokes. Onlookers will enjoy the burning freedom displayed but more interesting are the formation of cracks in the dark colours while the lights remain perfect and self restored; I'll leave you to decide what that could possibly mean for yourself.

~ Extract by Werner Wilsenach