The impact is immediate - an enormous, dominating animal whose physical presence is felt as well as seen, docilely being led by a child; the setting suggests urban desolation and wilderness. As in Europa the bull is very much to be viewed as a symbol of strength, and menace. But here we have a little girl, dwarfed by the animal’s massive bulk, yet unthreatened and very much in control.

The title, Labyrinth, not only suggests the great maze of Knossos in Crete where Minos concealed his shameful secret, but puzzlement, bewilderment, lostness in general. Is this the significance of the urban setting - the labyrinthine world where hopes are stifled ? It is significant that the bull is being led by the child : Burns is inviting us to think about the power of innocence, the paradox whereby hope is to be found, not in force or brute strength - the traditional qualities of masculinity - but in the gentle persuasiveness which child-like innocence engenders. This painting is therefore about hope and regeneration in the midst of desolation.