Findin’ My Way to You, Arcadia
A brief history of the mythical realm of Arcadia and its key themes.
Have you ever heard of the realm of Arcadia? Without knowing it, you have caught a glimpse of it at the turn of a garden, through the frame of a painting, or even in a surprising corner of history. Yet this land, which has influenced many minds, artists and thinkers alike, exists only in the human imagination.
You cannot book a flight to Arcadia
Yes, Arcadia is a region in the central Peloponnese. But that is not the one discussed here, so leave your passport in its drawer. The idea of Arcadia seems to have been born from the imagination of the Greek poet Theocritus, in the third century BC, and described as a rural area, ruled by gods, and inhabited by romantic shepherds and mythological creatures.
Unlike other myths of antiquity, Arcadia has actively traversed the centuries, accompanying mankind through its history like a compass guiding it towards an ideal. Whether it was the poets, playwrights and artists of the Renaissance, the painters of the 17th century led by Nicolas Poussin, or the gentlemen of the Enlightenment and their architects, all aspired to the idyllic image of this unattainable territory. Not only did it inspire works of art and architecture, it also shaped philosophy, lifestyle aspirations, and societies, making it an important theme for understanding the history of our ancestors and their cultural heritage.
We have not forgotten the path to Arcadia
Against all odds, mythology still appeals to our pragmatic contemporary society, and the sweet dream of Arcadia is still found in our cultural production. Its name is engraved on the rifle of Judge Holden in Cormac MacCarthy’s Blood Meridian, it is the title of a song by Lana del Rey, and the hero of Japanese manga Space Pirate Captain Harlock defies death aboard his starship named Arcadia. So, yes, it belongs to pop-culture too, because it belongs to humanity itself. But why? Because it goes beyond nostalgia, idealism, or philosophical concepts about our mortality.
In a world increasingly chaotic and devoid of meaning and concord, philosophers would advise us to pause and contemplate the past for strength and discernment. With its timeless, peaceful character, Arcadia could serve as a safe conduct for us to explore the treasures and quirks of our history, and who knows, draw some moral resilience and resistance from it.
Going further... in Arcadia
Three themes to stimulate your curiosity and your reflection.
Death in Paradise
Far from the moralising image of the biblical Lost Paradise, Arcadia nevertheless welcomes man's greatest fear: death. And there, death expresses itself in the first person. At least that is what painters like Nicolas Poussin and Guercino transcribed with the concept of “Et in Arcadia Ego”, which can be translated from Latin to “Even in Arcadia, there I am”, a statement Guercino made explicit with a skull. According to art historian Erwin Panofsky, this maxim reminds men of an ever-present threat in nature. Thus, the idea of Death in Arcadia serves as a potent memento mori, a way to remember the fragile nature of our existence.
This connection between idyllic landscape and our transience was established in the 17th century by artists, who, to depict Arcadia, borrowed its appearance from the countryside around Rome, studded with tombs from Antiquity. However, the mortification of the natural landscape intensified in the 18th century, particularly in the United Kingdom. There, the nobility took Arcadian paintings and Virgil’s Bucolics very literally when designing their gardens. Indeed, they brought into fashion an ancient type of funerary monument, the mausoleum, a pompous architectural statement that shouted the glory of its owner beyond his death. It concretized the concept of Death in Arcadia; a recognition of our fate through the constant sight of a tomb in a picturesque environment, the mausoleum alleviated the fear of mortality.
Arcadian Dangers
As a result, Arcadia, which was originally born in mythical Greece but resembled wild Italy, found itself adapted locally by the first tourists of the Enlightenment. This increased attention to the natural landscapes of his own country participated in the construction of the national identities that were shaking Europe and then the United States at the time. In the 19th, and especially in the early 20th century, the ode to the countryside reinforced the sense of belonging to a nation, and therefore a patriotism that proved necessary during the two world wars.
In fact, many bucolic landscapes can be found in modern war art. For allied artists, they once again ward off the morbidity of Arcadia, encouraging citizens to protect their land from the threat of death/Germany. This metaphor took a more sinister turn in the hands of Nazi propaganda: it justified the eradication of minorities to establish an ideal country. As yes, Arcadia also contains the limitations of the philosophical concept of Utopia, as established by authors such as Thomas More and William Shakespeare. The diktats of beauty and ideal can become threatening. Thus, Arcadian nostalgia and its reputation as a perfect world attract not only songwriters, but libertarians and some extreme right-wing ideologues too. Historians and philosophers know it, and it is important to bear it in mind: the past is not a place to live, but a tool to avoid repeating the same mistakes and horrors. The same applies to Arcadia.
Pastoral Aspirations
Arcadia soon came to symbolise a respite from the hustle and bustle of the cities. If artists chose the Roman campagna as their model, it was because their clients, weary of the capital, fell under the spell of the simple life of shepherds, and wanted to enjoy it from villas modelled on those of the ancients, such as the ones designed by the architect Andrea Palladio. Natural sceneries promised a gentler life, a soft death, but also, thanks to the often erotic images of shepherds and shepherdesses, an allusion to sexual freedom. Consequently, Arcadia became a haven for progressive counter-cultures, such as gays and lesbians, who were able to reconnect with nature, from which puritanism had banished them.
This momentum was renewed in the 19th century, due to the industrial boom. Thinkers like Henry David Thoreau weighed in on the dilemma between the utilitarianism of nature and humanity's need to live in harmony with it, a debate still very much alive today with the study of the Anthropocene and current environmental issues. This is where Arcadia really shows its value: it is not just a way of accepting our doomed fate, and it is certainly not a reality to be imposed; however, it can undoubtedly be a way of questioning the meaning of our existence outside civilisation. What could be more appropriate in a world dominated by technology and its moral pitfalls?
Read more:
An interesting article on Et In Arcadia Ego, from the Paul Mellon Centre.