Youth is symbolized as a
girl, an immature figure, beautifully modeled. She stands, perfectly
poised, among rising blossoms. On the pedestal are more flowers in
relief, and two dimly indicated half-figures of a man and woman may be
discovered. The side panels show old people being drawn away in ships
manned by cherubs-old people who gaze back wistfully at the Youth they
are leaving. Really the fountain is far more charming if one forgets all
but the central figure. There is in that a sweet tenderness, a maidenly
loveliness, that makes it the perfect embodiment of Youth-an
embodiment to be remembered with delight again and again.
The fountain was designed by Edith Woodman Burroughs.
The Fountain of El Dorado is on the other side of the archway, and is by
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. It represents, as a whole, mankind's
pursuit of the unattainable. The legend of El Dorado is that there once
lived in South America a prince, "The Gilded One," who had so much gold
that daily he had his body covered with gold dust. Many Spanish
explorers spent fruitless years in search of the fabulously rich country
of this prince. The idea of the fountain is that the Gilded One,
representing the unattainable, the advantages of wealth and power which
deluded men and women seek without value given to the world in return,
has just disappeared through the gateway, the gates closing after him.
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