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.
