The title of this particular piece of art I could not find. On the page I discovered the image on there was no identifiable title, just a brief description of the events portrayed in the painting. So I choose to call this piece, �Ponce de Leon and his Fountain of Youth.�
In part A of Project 3 I told a brief history of Juan Ponce de Leon, from his heritage as the son of noble Spanish family to his rise to power and wealth in the new world. In part B of Project 3, a short fictional narrative, I retold an account of a close confident to Ponce de Leon during the time in the early 1500s when he was removed from office but did not loose heart as he began a new quest to find the so called �fountain of youth.� I did not come across the link to this photo in any of the references I used for either parts A or B, but rather I struggled to find this image as all the images I found did nothing to inspire me. I basically searched for �images of Juan Ponce de Leon� and eventually found this image, which I happen to like and feel displays many ideals and attitudes about Ponce de Leon and about his journey to find his treasure.
At first glance the viewer is immediately drawn to the two main objects, one being Juan Ponce de Leon and the other a crew member kneeling next to an abundant stream. As your eye begins to travel around the work though you notice other details, smaller perhaps but no less important than the two large figures in the foreground. You see ships in the background, with small boats rowing to shore, European men drinking freely from the stream by hand and in goblets, and off in the distance three native peoples gazing on with much interest which might be construed as amazement, fright, disbelief or perhaps anger. This is undoubtedly a painting of great scale because to include miniscule details like facial features and body language your working space needs to be of substantial size. This piece was also most likely done in oil paints as acrylic and other such water based paints weren�t readily available at the time. The artist balances the painting well by using the ocean view as a counter weight to the stream and lighter colored figures. The artist also plays up the size, ie power and importance, of Ponce de Leon by making his physique broader with brightly colored clothes.
I believe that this image is about Juan Ponce de Leon�s life long pursuit of power and treasure. Here he clearly has power over the other men as he is being served his goblet filled with the magical waters from the fountain of youth. He has also obviously found his fountain of youth, putting to shame all those who kicked him out of office, and at the same time have subdued the native masses to but a shriveling group looking on from above at the stream which they undoubtedly tended regularly before Europeans arrived. This image is about Ponce de Leon�s decadence, in power and personal wealth.
�What lead me to choose this work of art?� Well, up until I found the link that lead me to this image all the pictures I saw related to Juan Ponce de Leon were a bust shot of him with a ship in the background; not very interesting. So basically I chose this image because I felt that it was one that I could write a significant amount about and sound somewhat informed on. I feel that this piece of art is an accurate representation of the image put forth by text books and lessons about Ponce de Leon; showing his masterful side, driven by his lust for wealth. I believe this to be true because the painting plainly shows Juan Ponce de Leon front and center achieving his dream of finding the �fountain of youth.� As depicted in this image Ponce de Leon is larger than life and conquering his challenges.
I suppose I would like to know who painted this piece, when and in exactly what medium. Otherwise I believe it to be a fairly self evident piece.