Sheperds Monument

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.