George Anson 1st Baron Anson (1697-1762)

British Admiral and wealthy aristocrat from an influential masonic family. He made his fortune capturing Spanish galleons between 1740 and 1748 in the war of the Austrian succession, the most famous one being Nuestra Señora de Covadonga, possessing 1,313,843 pieces of eight. Traveled around the world for 4 years, establishing one of the great tales of British naval history.

On his return in 1748 he commisioned a monument to be erected in the garden of his Shugborough estate for an unknown reason. Some say it’s just a love message, others that it is a treasure map to the Holy Grail. Fact is that the Shugborough Monument carries a mirrored relief of Poussin’s famous 2nd version of Les Bergers d’Arcadie, with an additional tomb on it and an enigmatic inscription at the bottom. The interest of the Anson family in the works of Nicolas Poussin is further stipulated by the portrait Thomas Hudson made of his wife Lady Elizabeth Yorke Anson in 1751. In this painting she is holding a copy of Poussin’s first version of Les Bergers d’Arcadie.

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Portrait of Lady Anson of Shugborough Hall by Thomas Hudson in 1751. Lady Anson is holding a pencil drawing of Nicolas Poussin’s first version of the Shepherds of Arcadia without the additions that were put on the Shugborough Monument.

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Engraving in the Marble Bass Relief of the ‘Shepherds Monument‘ at Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire, England

The monument was commissioned in 1748 by Admiral George 1st Baron Anson. The engraving is in fact an inverted copy of Nicolas Poussin’s Les Bergers d’Arcadie, with an additional tomb depicted. The work was executed by Flemish sculptor Peter Scheemaker, well-known from his sculpture of William Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey (1740)

At the bottom of the Shugborough monument a code is visible:

    O•U•O•S•V•A•V•V
D•                                M•

According to this book by Stuart Nettleton it is based on a Genesis 50:25 which deals with the death of Joseph in Egypt. For reasons explained in his book the middle sequence needs to be inversed: D.V.V.A.V.S.O.U.O.M which stands for

Deus Visitabit Vos Asportate Vobiscum Sancta Ossa Upilio Occulto Maneo

or

God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry away the shepherd’s holy bones to remain concealed.

Shepherds Monument on Google Maps

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