
Et in Arcadia Ego (Guercino)
1622 · Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome
Two shepherds stop at a skull on a plinth and read the words carved there. Guercino used the motto first, decades before Poussin.
★ 6.5

Two shepherds stop at a skull on a plinth and read the words carved there. Guercino used the motto first, decades before Poussin.

Shepherds trace the carved words on a tomb, Even in Arcadia I am here, and Poussin lets death speak without raising its voice.