Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)
painting by Guercino
Et in Arcadia ego (also known as The Arcadian Shepherds) is an oil-on-canvas painting created c. 1618–1622 by the Italian Baroque artist Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino). It is now on display in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica of Rome.
Description
The painting shows two young shepherds staring at a skull, with a mouse and a blowfly, placed onto a cippus with the words Et in Arcadia ego ("I, too, am in Paradise"). This phrase is meant as a warning, that even in Arcadia/Paradise, death is always present. The phrase appears for the first time in art and architecture in this work. The iconography of the memento mori theme symbolised in art by the skull was rather popular in Rome and Venice since Renaissance times.
Elias L. Rivers suggested the phrase "Et in Arcadia ego" is derived from a line from Daphnis's funeral in Virgil's Fifth Eclogue, line 43, Daphnis ego in silvis ("Daphnis was I amid the woods"), and that it referred to the dead shepherd within the tomb, rather than Death itself.
Mentioned for the first time in the collection of Antonio Barberini in 1644, the painting was later acquired by Colonna of Sciarra (1812), being attributed to Bartolomeo Schedoni until 1911. Nicolas Poussin also made two paintings on the topic of Et in Arcadia ego, less than two decades later.
The public source identifies “Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)” as painting by Guercino. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arcadia, Guercino and painting.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)”, the useful work is to connect “painting by Guercino” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q259012. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1618, 1622, 1644 and 1812.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino) primary sources, Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino) archive and Arcadia research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Et in Arcadia ego (Guercino)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.