毋忘，終有一死：試析普桑《阿卡迪亞的牧人》

Memento Mori: On the Meaning of the Inscription in Nicolas Poussin's Et in Arcadia Ego

作為法國巴洛克時期大師普桑（Nicolas Poussin）的代表作之一，《阿卡迪亞的牧人》是相當具有深意的作品。這個母題自古代詩歌延續到視覺圖像，累積了相當多的文本。這個主題不只是在文學領域中被討論，藝術史學家潘諾夫斯基、人類學家李維史陀等，也都針對普桑的《阿卡迪亞的牧人》一作，提出了不同的見解與研究成果：潘諾夫斯基細細爬梳了該母題的歷史脈絡，並且針對墓碑銘文提出了考據；李維史陀則是針對數幅相同主題之作品，提出了風格遞嬗的假設。而本篇論文則是在這些大師的思想基礎上，透過一系列關於「阿卡迪亞」的圖像分析與墓碑銘文解密，來試圖理解圖像背後的未竟之言。並以哲學性的分析，來探索「Et in Arcadia Ego」一詞在字義背後，死亡的意象是如何展現的。故我們以套層（mise en abyme）的概念為架構，重新分析《阿卡迪亞的牧人》一作中觀看的不同層次。並且透過死亡的象徵（如：墓碑），來展開對於生死的詰問，讓畫中與觀畫的觀者，共同進入死亡的思考之中。最後發現，這圖像以迂迴的方式揭露死亡的本相。的確唯有如此，才能讓人銘記死亡真正存在的事實。

Et in Arcadia Ego, one of the representative works of Nicolas Poussin in the Baroque Ages in France, is a profound and meaningful work of art. Its theme, Arcadia, which is believed to begin in ancient Roman ballads or poetry such as in Virgile's works, has been developed opulently in visual images, and there exists a great volume of related texts. However, the discussion on Arcadia is not limited to the field of literature. Erwin Panofsky, the art historian, and Claude Lévi-Strauss, the anthropologist, have both commented on Et in Arcadia Ego and arrived at distinctive viewpoints and research results: Panofsky meticulously traces the historical context of the theme and has conducted textual research on the inscription in the paintings. Lévi-Strauss has proposed hypotheses on the changes in styles in different works with the same theme. This study is based on the ideas of these masters to analyze various images of Arcadia and unravel the inscriptions in the paintings, with an attempt to explore and understand the unspoken words hidden behind them. By means of philosophical discussion and analysis, the meaning of “Et in Arcadia Ego” is expected to be unraveled via the imagery of death. In addition, mise en abyme will be applied as the framework for this study to re-analyze various levels of “gaze” presented in Et in Arcadia Ego. The question on life and death is reflected through the symbol of death (e.g., the tomb), and the viewers in and of the painting could synchronously contemplate death. The findings show that the images reveal the essence of death in an obscure way, and by doing so, people can be firmly reminded that death does exist.