Shepherd's Monument

The Shepherd's Monument at Shugborough is one of a number of 18th-century structures in the park of Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, England. It was commissioned by the owner of the park, Thomas Anson, who had an interest in Greek architecture. It consists of an entablature below which is a rustic arch enclosing a tomb-like structure which features a relief. The relief is the work of the sculptor Peter Scheemakers. Scheemakers also worked on another monument at Shugborough, the Arch of Hadrian. Scheemakers's sculpture is based on a painting from the 1630s, the second version of Nicolas Poussin's The Shepherds of Arcadia. Scheemakers appears to have been working from an engraving because his relief is a mirror image of the painting (although the inscription runs left to right). The painting was available in versions by engravers such as Bernard Picart.