Artist: John Caple

'My paintings in many ways describe an internal world, a world which is best approached in quiet and still moments'

Taking its title from a poem by Shelley, The Woodman and the Nightingale is John Caple’s extraordinary hymn to the beauty of the ancient wilderness. Led by a nightingale, the artist takes us on a mesmerising journey through the forests, villages and waterways of these precious places. An ever-present Woodman stands as the guardian of its spirit expressing the fragility of this landscape, a concern that lies at the heart of Caple’s work: “...there is in these elder places a soulfulness and atmosphere that once lost can never be truly recovered.”.

"There is such beauty in the dark and shaded places found in the countryside. The deep shadow of an ancient Yew, old orchards at dusk, the interior of the woodland in the twilight. There are places where stone, wood and dark contrive to become the abode of other shades, memories of other times locked into the landscape. There is in these elder places a mood and atmosphere that once lost can never be truly recovered. I have been more fortunate to have had many such numinous encounters and it is this 'spirit of place' which I always hope to express in my paintings."  - John Caple