ART HISTORY ESSAY (no reference)

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There was a renewed interest in the classical especially after 1640. Poussin was the greatest French painter in the 17th century and the earliest French painter to receive international fame, although he spent most of his career in Rome. He is a precursor to Neo-Classicism of the 18th century, painting in what is called the “Grand Manner.” Figures are derived from Hellenistic sculpture (in the sense of movement especially). Poussin believed in idealizing nature to make it perfect. This image depicts three shepherds and a monumental, statue-like woman grouped around a large stone tomb. The idyllic natural setting, the antique robes and sandals of the figures, and, of course, the painting's title all situate this in the mythical realm of Arcadia. Arcadia was a real region in Greece: isolated, surrounded by mountains, and sparsely populated by shepherds, already in antiquity the region was romanticized as a kind of terrestrial paradise, a place of unspoiled nature whose inhabitants still lived in the blissful harmony (and ignorance) of the Golden Age. The myth of Arcadia has inspired poets and artists alike through the millennia, notably the Roman poet Virgil, whose Eclogues (a series of poems which take place in Arcadia) were one of the major inspirations for this painting. In the midst of this paradise, however, these shepherds look somewhat concerned. What is it that they are examining with such perplexed intensity? A tomb, with the phrase Et in Arcadia Ego inscribed in the center. This Latin phrase roughly translates into English as "Even in Arcadia I exist," referring to the contents of the tomb: death. These shepherds are thus discovering their own mortality. Poussin's painting can be qualified as a memento mori , or reminder of death. The subject of The Arcadian Shepherds as such was rare and esoteric, but at least one important painting preceded Poussin's masterpiece. These shepherds are no longer happily frolicking in their Golden Age of bliss, but instead gaze at the tomb, broken-hearted, the knowledge of their mortality weighing heavily upon their shoulders.