John Caple - The Woodman and the Nightingale

John Caple - The Woodman and the Nightingale at the John Martin gallery, Mayfair.

Another John Caple exhibition at John Martin, and as always, such a delight. 

John Caple is completely self-taught. his family have farmed and quarried in Mendip in Somerset since the 18th century. The tight community in which he grew up has a rich history of people whose stories were passed down through successive generations. His paintings feature re-occurring faces of his mother, grandparents, uncles and others in scenes derived from his imagination through stories he is told of their pasts. Each painting describes specific episodes in the lives of these characters.

The artist's statement about this exhibition: 'The paintings for this exhibition are strongly influenced by Nature poetry, in particular the poems of Percy Shelley. The title of the exhibition, and indeed the titles of many of the paintings are taken from his poem 'The Woodman and the Nightingale', a poem which asks for a deeper connection with the natural world.

I began with a series of drawings to find the initial ideas and themes which could be developed in the final paintings. The Nightingale is important and appears in nearly every one of the paintings, representing both the mystery of nature as well as its fleeting and fragile presence. The Woodman I came to see as a force of renewal, replenishing all that is taken and so enabling a constant blance in nature. He is a protector of the physical environment and a guardian of the spirit of place.

There is such beauty in ancient wilderness. These elder places express a soulfulness and atmosphere that once lost can never be recovered. It is this 'spirit of place' which I hope can be felt in these paintings.'

The Woodman, 2023 (acrylic on canvas)

Dark Village, (acrylic on canvas)

How High beyond all High, (acrylic on canvas)

Woodland House, (acrylic on canvas)

Night Walk, (acrylic on canvas)

The Barn at Midnight, (acrylic on canvas)

River Journey, (acrylic on canvas)

Return to the Nests, (acrylic on canvas)

They Know Earth's Secrets, (acrylic on canvas)

Night Journey, (acrylic on canvas)

The Night Temple, (acrylic on canvas)

The Coombe at Dusk, (acrylic on canvas)

The Woodman's Cottage, (acrylic on canvas)

Whom Mortals Call the Moon, (acrylic on canvas)

Woodland House II, (acrylic on canvas)

Surrounded by Columns and the Towers, (acrylic on canvas)

The Nightingale, (acrylic on canvas)

The Woodman and the Nightingale, (acrylic on canvas)

River Journey - The Gleam of the Remoter World, (acrylic on canvas)

Wakening the Leaves and the Waves, (acrylic on canvas)