Seeking the fountain of Youth
The exhibition offers to visitors interesting conclusions about the truth behind the myth of the Fountain of Youth. There is no link between Ponce de León’s mission to La Florida and this myth in any of the agreements or in any written documents from his time. All of the references that link Ponce de León and the Fountain of Youth emerge years after his death. Nevertheless, the story endures as the most powerful foundation myth in the United States.
Cranach el Viejo (1472-1553), in the most famous European depiction of the Fountain of Youth, shows how people bathed in the waters of the Fountain of Youth, and emerged rejuvenated. Staatliche Museen, Berlin.