Regards An interconnected world is not as recent as we think. Et in Arcadia ego (also known as Les bergers d'Arcadie or The Arcadian Shepherds) is a 1637–38 painting by the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris Nicolas Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego , 1637-38, oil on canvas, 87 x 120 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris) Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Oil on canvas - Louvre Museum, Paris 1637. very Classical female figure. The subject of The Arcadian Shepherds as such was rare and esoteric, but at least one important painting preceded Poussin's masterpiece; Guercino, Et in Arcadia Ego. Death) am to be found. Virgil took the idealized Sicilian rustics that had first appeared in the Idylls of Theocritus and set them in the primitive Greek district of Arcadia (see Eclogues VII and X). Poussin has built into the painting deliberate errors, namely in his use of the shadows. The sponsorship of the painting and its story before 1685, when it was acquired by Louis XIV, are still uncertain. Shepherds, men who are rough and of little culture, stop at the monument they consider intriguing. Diamonds" by Scalding Lucy) Steven: We're in the Et In Arcadia Ego. What truth in the attitude and what richness, contained and dull, in the color of the draperies! Also Poussin would have been familiar with the 1618-22 painting of the same theme by Guercino(1618–22, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome). a poetic passage of time. Steven: Resurrecting it Donate or volunteer today! Poussin was so interested in This is a bridge back in time. Et in Arcadia ego (also known as Les bergers d'Arcadie or The Arcadian Shepherds) is a 1637–38 painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). Behind is a garlanded young man, leaning on the tomb and watching, attentive and meditating, and another one in front of him bows and shows the written words to a beautiful Nymph lightly dressed, who holds her hand on his shoulder and looks and retains her laugh, abandoning herself to the thought of death.”. Geoffrey, Your email address will not be published. Greek and Roman culture, he must have had a sense of ... Steven: Longing for the past. This page was last modified on 7 January 2016, at 19:02. Whereas the early picture portrayed the figures in a sudden and dramatic confrontation with death, the Louvre painting shows them solemnly meditating upon it. The landscape has a setting sun. The other, less severe version of the subject by Poussin is at Chatsworth. If you look at the tomb, it's not new. Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education to anyone, anywhere. Thank you very much for this article and photos. Et in Arcadia ego (also known as Les bergers d'Arcadie or The Arcadian Shepherds) is a 1637–38 painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style. In 1832 another relief was sculpted as part of the monument marking Poussin's tomb in Rome, on which it appears beneath a bust of the artist.
I see the shepherds trying to prove the life and possibly achievements of the prince by pointing out to the inscriptions on the tomb.
For example, William Hazlitt wrote that Poussin "describes some shepherds wandering out in a morning of the spring, and coming to a tomb with this inscription, 'I also was an Arcadian'."[2]. Beth: "I too am in Arcadia" meaning even death is in Arcadia. During Antiquity, many Greeks lived in cities close to the sea, and led an urban life. pp. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. Beth: And also a sense This call from beyond the tomb seems to awaken thoughts in the simple soul of the peasants grouped before the stone; their faces reflect an obvious melancholy and that sort of solemn terror that provokes in all beings the vision of the inevitable expiry. Antoine or Louis Le Nain, Peasant Family in an Interior, Claude Perrault, East facade of the Louvre, (music) ("In The Sky With It is held in the Louvre, Paris. that in looking back by Poussin to ancient The translation of the phrase is "Even in Arcadia, there am I".