Nicolas poussin et in arcadia ego

The crouching figure is tracing the letters chiselled into the stone, "Et in Arcadia Ego", usually translated as "even in Arcadia, I am there".

Most art critics agree that the message on the stone has been left by Death, and the shepherds are coming to realize that this means that even in a blissful paradise like Arcadia there is death, and that life is not everlasting.

(Making the picture a memento mori, or reminder of death.) The richly-dressed female figure already understands this truth, and she looks on sympathetically.

NOTE: For an alternative explanation, see Andre Felibien's biography of Poussin, in which he interpreted "Et in Arcadia Ego" to mean that the person buried in the tomb also once lived (enjoyed the pleasures of life) in Arcadia (on earth).

In addition, the action of the crouching shepherd is believed to be a reference to the origin of painting, believed to have occurred in t