Over the centuries, the Tree of Life has acted as a powerful metaphor for the relationship between different life forms and for the way in which constituent parts come together as a whole. In her paintings Caroline Meynell explores the metaphor in relation to trees themselves. The exhibition consists of 13 pieces. Twelve focus on the different aspects of the life of the tree and its place in the landscape; the 13th, The Tree of Life, on the whole tree. In it Meynell has used four panels, instead of one single one and made it much larger than the other pieces. This results in a dominant yet fragile portrait of a horse-chestnut, its autumnal coppery tones acting out a celebratory quasi-flowering, before the leaves finally fall. The piece has a particular poignancy, given the current uncertain future of horse-chestnuts owing to the potentially fatal effects of chestnut leaf miner. The work has been hung on three of the four walls of each of three inter-connecting rooms. The fourth walls are made of glass, through which a superb panoply of mature trees can be seen. Meynell works in acrylic on canvas, varying the thinness of the acrylic in order to capture a subtle and beautiful mix of woody density, biological complexity and at times pure light. Each piece portrays the essence and functionality of a different aspect of the tree, in the most delicate detail. Their titles speak for themselves: Roots, Sap, Shelter, Trunk, Shade, Seed, Waymark, Unfolding Leaf, Flowers, Fruits, Falling Leaf and Branches. Illustrated above is Falling Leaf, its downward trajectory emphasised by its gentle gold expanse across the width of the canvas. The exhibition is at Wolfson College and continues until November 11. It is open daily from 10am until 7pm, but check with the porters’ lodge on 01865 274100 in case a college function necessitates closure.