Source: Photograph (WTL©) of the painting by Thomas Moran (1837 - 1926) titled "Ponce de León in Florida, 1513 " (1878).
Comment: This is a very large canvas, measuring 63" by 115". In 1877, Moran went to Florida to paint St. Augustine and the St. John's River areas. In Art in Florida (Pineapple Press, 1999), Maybelle Mann says that Moran's "imagination was captured by Ponce de León's association with the town [i.e., St. Augustine]" (pp. 14-15). She adds that "Moran was impressed with the forests of Florida, which, when he first went to the state, were virtually impassable south of St. Augustine" (65).
Humanities questions: Remembering that this is a 19th century American painting—and not a Latin American painting, though Western art movements and periods often share styles and elements—analyze this painting briefly noting size, composition and (possibly) Moran's approach to telling the story of "Ponce de León in Florida, 1513."