1-155-016 - Art Media/Heritage Images

'Et in Arcadia Ego', c1650. The painting, also known as 'The Arcadian Shepherds', shows a Greek mythological scene in which a group of shepherds inspects an inscribed coffin. Et in Arcadia Ego has variously been translated as I, too, in Arcadia, I am also in Arcadia or I am even in Arcadia. One interpretation of the meaning is that the person buried in the tomb has lived in Arcadia, that is, the dead person once enjoyed the pleasures of life on earth.