Sculptures alluding to musical composition recur in Caro’s sculptural repertoire. This requiem in memory of his mother, who died in 1996, is a solid, enclosed sepulchre – an acknowledgment to the close of life. This is a secret piece, quiet and contemplative. The inner forms are soft, rounded, protected by a harder framework. There are resonances of Henry Moore’s helmet heads and his protective mother and child sculptures, although the forms bear no literal resemblance. Wood is a softer material than steel, and they are used together here for reasons of expression as well as formal sculptural language.

Architecture has always held a great interest for Caro, and many of his sculptures embrace the principles of architecture – inner and outer space – allowing the viewer to experience a sculpture from within and without. Here we are barred from knowing the interior, but in other works we can explore it fully.