Nicolas Poussin

(French, 1594 - 1665)

Ambito di

The subject finds a precedent in Guercino's Et in Arcadia Ego, now in the Palazzo Barberini Gallery in Rome; but Poussin's work assumes and exudes a classicist formulation to which it is closely linked.

Indeed, our artist, who settled in Rome in 1624, developed a pictorial language based on the study of the great masters of the Italian Renaissance. The structure of this painting harks back to a cultural climate in which gesture, figuration, architecture, and landscape participated in a thoughtful, highly classical order.

Significant is the comparison with the first version of the Arcadian Shepherds preserved in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House (1627–30); the present canvas, at 113 × 98.7, has larger dimensions.

The work presented here, however, is not a simple replica: the scene presents a different compositional structure; in fact, the central group is crowded around the monument in a rhythmic succession of bodies and gestures, while the female figure on the left constitutes a luminous break from the vigorous male anatomies. The young man seen from behind, with a decisive twist of the torso, introduces a diagonal movement that draws the gaze toward the center of the composition.

The plastic solidity of the figures, the exploration of varied poses, and the monumentality of the anatomies are an expression of order, moderation, and balance. For these reasons, its subject matter, figurative conception, and formal culture, the painting is placed within the context of 17th-century Roman classicism.