Description:The Shepherd's Monument (c.1750) takes its name from its central marble relief by the Dutch artist Peter Scheemakers, who also worked on Shugborough's Triumphal Arch.
The relief is a mirror image of a painting by Nicholas Poussin, 'Et in Arcadia Ego' (1640 - 42). Set in Arcadia, two lovers are shown an inscription on a tomb by an ancient shepherd, perhaps reminding the viewer that whatever pleasures life holds, death will eventually snatch us from them.
The relief is surrounded by a rustic arch, probably influenced by the designs of Thomas Wright. The columns and crestings were added in the 1760s.
This photograph is from an album of local views taken by Edward King Tenison (1805-1878), a highly regarded photographer in the early decades of photography. His family seat was at Kilronen, Roscommon, Ireland and he married Louisa Mary Anne Anson, daughter of the 1st Earl of Lichfield, also an accomplished amateur photographer. These images were probably taken during Tenison's visits to his wife's family home, Shugborough.