Nancy Cadogan’s ‘The Lost Trees’ will be exhibited from Friday 2 October to Sunday 22 November 2026. The touring exhibition presents a series of poetic and precise landscape paintings that are both serene and deeply stirring, exploring the emotional and environmental significance of trees.
The paintings address trees ranging from iconic oaks and orchard pears to unnamed local species, with each work serving as both a tribute and a memorial. At Compton Verney, the exhibition connects with the real and visible loss of trees across the region, particularly through large-scale infrastructure developments such as HS2, which have dramatically altered the local landscape.
Bringing together personal and shared stories, ‘The Lost Trees’ honours trees as witnesses to history, anchors of community and fragile but enduring links between people and the natural world.
The exhibition includes a personal introduction with Nancy Cadogan, followed by a charcoal masterclass in the studio. The workshop explores building form and shadow with charcoal, moving from smudge to sharp line to bring the bark, branch and canopy of trees to life; participants may also bring an image of a favourite tree connected to a memory, including one that was felled, one they climbed or one they still return to, for Cadogan to help turn that connection into something on paper.
