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Sculptor

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Designer

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Year of unveiling

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Notes

The monument takes its name from the marble relief, an adapted mirror image of the painting of Nicholas Poussin, Et in Arcadia Ego (1640-42). The scene is set amidst a wooded landscape.Three shepherds and a young maiden elegantly draped in classical robes listen attentively to an elderly shepherd as he reads them an inscription from a tomb, Et in Arcadia Ego, meaning 'I too once was as you are now.' The elderly man and one of the youths point towards the inscription. The relief is framed by a curved arch carved with unusual swirling marks, probably in an attempt to imitate wood in stone. These elements are flanked by two Doric columns with similar swirling marks supporting an entablature with a decorative frieze. The frieze depicts wreaths and human heads, separated by triglyphs. The central wreath is shown with two thorns crossing over one another in its centre. The head on the right is of a man with horns on his head; the head on the left is more worn but appears to represent a woman. The entablature is topped by a series of scallop-shaped leaf forms or crestings.

It is believed that Thomas Wright instigated the design, basing it on an idea he published in 'Six Original Designs of Arbours' (1755). The columns and Doric entablature with crestings were probably added in 1763 by James Stuart. The British Museum has a drawing by Stuart of just such an incompletely carved shaft.

The moral to be drawn from the relief is that, however deep our pleasures and our love may be, death will inevitably separate us from them in the end. It may have been intended as a secret memorial to someone loved by Thomas Anson. The cryptic inscription on the tablet below probably holds the key, but has defied conclusive interpretation. One theory is that it refers to his sister-in-law, Elizabeth Anson, whom he is known to have admired, and who used to address him playfully as 'Gentil Berger'. However, in a letter to Lady Lichfield dated 15 December 1951, Oliver Morchard Bishop puts forward the suggestion that the letters stand for Optimae Uxoris Optimae Sororis Viduus Amantissimus Vovit Virtutibus, which he translates as 'Dedicated by a most affectionate widower to the virtues of the best of wives and the best of sisters', therefore rejecting it as a possible interpretation of the inscription on the grounds that Thomas Anson was unmarried. Moreover, Lady Anson's death was not until 1760, two years after the monument is known to have existed. Another theory put forward is that the inscription is deliberately cryptic, created from the first letters of an English phrase known only to a small circle of initiates. Freemasons used acrostics of this kind, and in 1731 Thomas Anson's membership of the Royal Society had been proposed by members known to have links with the Freemasons.

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Monument

Tixall stone

3m high x 3m wide x 1m deep

Relief panel

Marble

1.45m wide x 1.8m high x 6cm deep

Plaque and plinth

Marble

1.4m wide x 1.1m high x 6cm deep

Corrosion, Deterioration

Blackened by air pollution, but this is relatively minor

Previous treatments

See below

Water collection

Site is in a damp spot near to the River Sow, and the stone has tended to absorb water

Other

Marble has recently been cleaned and repaired to prevent further percolation of water into it

Graffiti

surface carving, some more than 150 years old, on the lower courses of stone