Fountain of Youth and bathhouse

The use of water to heal is a practice as old as medicine itself. Visitors travelled to spas in order to regain their health and the strength of their youth. However, the results were usually disappointing, thus leading to the dream of a fountain of youth, where men and women could regain their beauty, youth, and ability to love. At the left of our sheet, the elderly are being carried to a pool of water with a three-tiered fountain; their cast-away crutches burn as they dance around the fire. As soon as the old people reach the water, they are transformed into healthy men and women with a reawakened lust for life and love. In the bathhouse to the right, men and women bustle about, caress one another, care for their bodies, and drink the healing water of the fountain from the large pool. At the close of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, the common bathing of both sexes was repeatedly forbidden – and the prohibition repeatedly violated. In the rear of the hall, several people can be seen casually engaged in various activities: they are resting, caressing one another, having themselves shaved, or playing backgammon. An etching after Raphael has provided models for some of the nudes.