Poussin

Et in Arcadia Ego, Nicholas Poussin (1637-1639)

85 cm × 121 cm (34.25 in × 47.24 in)

French Baroque

Nicholas Poussin was one of the most influential painters of the Western Baroque era. While other artists of this period were composing art with dramatic forms and lighting, vivid and radiant color, and huge action, Poussin’s art is quiet and peaceful. The term poussinisme would come to describe art that emphasizes form over color, with clean lines and defined pictorial regions, and compositions that appealed to the brain rather than the heart. His style would dominate for almost a century, until about the mid-18^th century.

This work is a type known as a pastoral — an artwork depicting idyllic landscapes that a viewer is supposed to just enjoy. The subjects are usually shepherds or shepherdesses who while away their days playing music or just relaxing, while their herds graze peacefully in lush, green fields. The Arcadia referred to in the title was originally a region in ancient Greece where Pan, the half-goat god of livestock and shepherds, was supposed to live. In later Western art, Arcadia became another word for these pastoral landscapes when set in the ancient Greek countryside.

In Et in Arcadia Ego, we see three male shepherds and one female figure. The men crowd around a large stone tomb on top of a hill. It is engraved with the work’s title, a Latin phrase which translates to “I am also in Arcadia”. The men are discussing what this means when a woman appears. She is not with their group because her clothes and body language are different. The men seem to defer to her. Usually, artists will use props or symbols to identify figures in art so viewers don’t have to guess, but Poussin has left her identity a mystery. Many scholars believe she is a goddess.

The woman is tall and statuesque. One hand is on her hip while she gently and comfortingly rests the other on the back of the shepherd in red. She shows no emotion though. She seems to listen patiently to their questions about the object and its meaning. She also seems a little sad. The identity of the goddess has never been determined for certain. Some sources think she might be Clio, the Muse of History. Others think she is Minerva, goddess of wisdom. (Artists of this era will use the Roman gods in their classical art, therefore Minerva instead of Athena, Jupiter for Zeus, Mars for Ares, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on. Pan would be called Faunus.) Who you think she is might affect your interpretation of the painting’s meaning. If she is Clio, she might be telling them about the passage of time and the people that came before. When one is experiencing a perfect life now, it is easy to forget where you came from. If she is Minerva, she might be counseling the shepherds about the realities of life. Everyone dies. It is unescapable. Whoever this woman is, the tomb is a reminder that nothing last forever, even in Paradise. “I am here too.”

Another source thought that the woman is a nymph, a nature spirit. In Greek mythology, they are sometimes associated with Pan so a nymph in Arcadia would not be unusual. The source thinks the nymph looks amused by the shepherds’ confusion and the thought of death. While the woman’s identity is ambiguous, I don’t think she’s a nymph. I don’t see a smile or smirk on her face. I see a sober, thoughtful, modest, mature woman. Nymphs were definitely not known for their sobriety nor their modesty.

In my opinion, I think she’s Minerva.

The color palette is interesting. The landscape is brown, green, and blue, but the middle of the painting is dominated by bright yellow, red, and blue. These are the primary colors, and my attention is drawn immediately to them. The two most vivid colors, yellow and red, sit right next to each other and radiate in the neutral browns and tans surrounding them. The figures dressed in these colors are opposites: male and female, body and spirit (if she’s a goddess), mortal and immortal, confusion and confidence, ignorance and knowledge, emotion and rationality (if she’s Minerva). I also think Poussin might be referencing the two sides of human existence but is placing importance on intellect and wisdom. Their conversation also adds some drama to an otherwise static piece.

Opposite the goddess is the young man in peach or pink on the very left. His pose almost mirrors hers. Unlike his friends, this shepherd doesn’t examine the inscription closely. Instead, it seems as though he realizes its implication, accepts its truth, and is saddened by it. His world isn’t what he thought it was. I think the dull color in his outfit may reflect his mood. I also like that, while he is not crouching like his friends, he is still not as straight or tall as the goddess. To me, this emphasizes her importance further, adding more evidence that she is a goddess.

The painting is laid out like a staged scene in a play. The gestures are clear, and the figures are very well-defined. The vague and generic landscape is like a painted backdrop. It establishes that Arcadia is truly paradise — beautiful, with green fields and picturesque mountains that stretch as far as the eye can see. But in the center of it all, mounted on a rise for all to see, is the tomb and its inscription, and it cannot be ignored. Et in Arcadia ego.

This work is cared for by the Musée du Louvre, France.