Arcadian shepherds

The shepherds living in idyllically beautiful country of Arcadia, a Paradise on earth, consider the tombstone. On it is carved the epitaph: Et in Arcadia Ego ("And I was in Arcadia"). Young people are at a loss: they clearly for the first time faced with reminders of death, which is inevitable even in a carefree Arcadia. So Poussin creates the classic version of the Baroque vanitas genre.