Unicorn Tapestries
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''The Unicorn Tapestries'' or the ''Hunt of the Unicorn'' () is a series of seven
tapestries Tapestry is a form of textile art which was traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical pieces are intended to han ...
made in the
Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the ...
around 1495–1505, and now in
The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...
in New York City. They were possibly designed in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and woven in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
. They depict a group of noblemen and hunters in pursuit of a
unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...
through an idealised French landscape. The tapestries were woven in wool, metallic threads, and silk. The vibrant colours, still evident today, were produced from dye plants: weld (yellow), madder (red), and
woad ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, ''Isati ...
(blue). First recorded in 1680 in the Paris home of the Rochefoucauld family, the tapestries were looted during the French Revolution. Rediscovered in a barn in the 1850s, they were hung at the family's Château de Verteuil. Since then they have been the subject of intense scholarly debate about the meaning of their iconography, the identity of the artists who designed them, and the sequence in which they were meant to be hung. Although various theories have been put forward, as yet nothing is known of their early history or provenance, and their dramatic but conflicting narratives have inspired multiple readings, from chivalric to Christological. Variations in size, style, and composition suggest they come from more than one set, linked by their subject matter, provenance, and the mysterious AE monogram which appears in each. One of the panels, "The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn", survives as just two fragments.


History


Construction

Questions about the original workmanship of the tapestries remain unanswered. The design of the tapestries is rich in figurative elements similar to those found in oil painting. Apparently influenced by the French style, the elements in the tapestries reflect the woodcuts and metalcuts made in Paris in the late fifteenth century. The garden backgrounds of the tapestries are rich in floral imagery, featuring the "
millefleur Millefleur, millefleurs or mille-fleur (French language, French mille-fleurs, literally "thousand flowers") refers to a background style of many different small flowers and plants, usually shown on a green ground, as though growing in grass. It i ...
s" background style of a variety of small botanic elements. Invented by the weavers of the Gothic age, it became popular during the late medieval era and declined after the early Renaissance. There are more than a hundred plants represented in the tapestries, scattered across the green backgrounds of the panels, eighty-five of which have been identified by botanists. The particular flowers featured in the tapestries reflect the tapestries' major themes. In the unicorn series, the hunt takes place within a '' Hortus conclusus'', literally meaning "enclosed garden," which was not only a representation of a secular, physical garden, but a connection with the
Annunciation The Annunciation (; ; also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord; ) is, according to the Gospel of Luke, the announcement made by the archangel Gabriel to Ma ...
. The tapestries were very probably woven in
Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, which was an important center of the tapestry industry in
medieval Europe In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
. An example of the remarkable work of the Brussels looms, the tapestries' mixture of silk and metallic thread with wool gave them a fine quality and brilliant color. The wool was widely produced in the rural areas around Brussels, and a common primary material in tapestry weaving. The silk, however, was costly and hard to obtain, indicating the wealth and social status of the tapestry owner.


Provenance

The tapestries were owned by the La Rochefoucauld family of France for several centuries, with first mention of them showing up in the family's 1728 inventory. At that time five of the tapestries were hanging in a bedroom in the family's Château de Verteuil, Charente and two were stored in a hall adjacent to the chapel. The tapestries were highly believed woven for François, the son of Jean II de La Rochefoucauld and Marguerite de Barbezieux. And there was a possible connection between the letters A and E and the La Rochefoucauld, which are interpreted as the first and last of Antoine's name, who was the son of François, and his wife, Antoinette of Amboise. During the French Revolution the tapestries were looted from the château and reportedly were used to cover potatoes – a period during which they apparently sustained damage. By the end of the 1880s they were again in the possession of the family. A visitor to the château described them as quaint 15th century wall hangings, yet showing "incomparable freshness and grace". The same visitor records the set as consisting of seven pieces, though one was by that time in fragments and being used as bed curtains. John D. Rockefeller Jr. bought them in 1922 for about one million US dollars. Six of the tapestries hung in Rockefeller's house until
The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...
was built when he donated them to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
in 1938 and at the same time secured for the collection the two fragments the La Rochefauld family had retained. The set now hangs in
The Cloisters The Cloisters, also known as the Met Cloisters, is a museum in the Washington Heights, Manhattan, Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City. The museum, situated in Fort Tryon Park, specializes in European medieval art ...
which houses the museum's medieval collection.


Restoration

In 1998 the tapestries were cleaned and restored. In the process, the
linen Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant. Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
backing was removed, the tapestries were bathed in water, and it was discovered that the colours on the back were in even better condition than those on the front (which are also quite vivid). A series of high resolution
digital photograph Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronics, electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens (optics), lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. ...
s were taken of both sides using a customised scanning device suspending a linear array scan camera and lighting over the delicate textile. The front and back of the tapestries were photographed in approximately three-by-three-foot square segments. The largest tapestry required up to 24 individual 5000 × 5000 pixel images. Merging the massive data stored in these photos required the efforts of two mathematicians, the
Chudnovsky brothers David Volfovich Chudnovsky (born January 22, 1947) and Gregory Volfovich Chudnovsky (born April 17, 1952) are American mathematicians and engineers known for their world-record mathematical calculations and developing the Chudnovsky algorithm us ...
.


Subjects

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which owns the tapestries, has titled and ordered them as follows: # "The Hunters Enter the Woods" # "The Unicorn Purifies Water" # "The Unicorn Crosses a Stream" # "The Unicorn Defends Himself" # "The Unicorn Surrenders to a Maiden" (two fragments) # "The Hunters Return to the Castle" # "The Unicorn Rests in a Garden" The tapestries comprise five large pieces, one small piece, and two fragments. The mobility associated with the size formed an essential consideration of the function of the tapestry in the medieval age. Different sizes of Gothic tapestries served as the decoration to fit chosen walls in the middle age. In modern-day research, based on the possibility that the unicorn tapestries were designed for use as a bedroom ensemble, the five large pieces fit the back area of a wall, while the other two pieces serve as the coverlet, or overhead canopy. Other sources give slightly different titles and different sequences. The sequence of the tapestries is based on three main factors. The first is construction of the tapestries themselves, which exhibit differences of manufacture and size, may suggest that the first and last are independent works or form a different series. Secondly is the story of the classic stag hunt, usually cited to ''Livre de la Chasse'' by Gaston III, Count of Foix. Thirdly is the established story of the unicorn hunt, where the unicorn is made docile by a virgin, and then captured, wounded or killed. ''"The Unicorn Rests in a Garden"'', smaller than the others, depicts the unicorn chained by its neck to a tree in a beautiful hortus conclusus garden filled with flowers, enclosed by a gate. No other figures are present in this image; the content consists solely of the unicorn in its entrapment. The pure, vivid whiteness of the unicorn is amplified in this seventh tapestry by the contrast of the body against the dark, forest green grass. The unicorn is chained to the tree by means of a dark belt around its neck that matches the background color.


Analysis


Interpretation of themes

The entrapment of a unicorn by a virgin was a common theme in medieval folklore. Interpretations of the tapestries draw from analysis of this story. The tapestries have been interpreted as an allegory of Christ. In the medieval period, the unicorn was accepted as a symbol of Christ. Contemporary unicorn folklore stated that the unicorn could only be captured if led by a virgin maiden; several scholars have drawn a connection between this theme and the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary. The subsequent pursuit of the unicorn by the hunters, killing, and resurrection can be read as metaphors for the
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...
,
crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
, and
resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions involving the same person or deity returning to another body. The disappearance of a body is anothe ...
of Jesus Christ, respectively. The tapestries have also been interpreted as an allegory of marriage. James Rorimer theorized that, as the designer of the tapestry has emphasized the secular nature of the unicorn hunt, rather than the Christian themes it represents, certain marriage-related symbols in the tapestries could suggest that the tapestries were created to celebrate a marriage. Margaret B. Freeman noted that medieval poets connected the taming of the unicorn to the devotion and subjugation of love. As such, Freeman equates the unicorn's seduction by a virgin and subsequent imprisonment to medieval notions of the lover held captive. Freeman has pointed out that these interpretations are not contradictory, and were likely intended to complement each other, as the concept of an overlapping God of Heaven and God of Love was accepted in the late Middle Ages.


Monogram and origin

James J. Rorimer speculated in 1942 that the tapestries were commissioned by
Anne of Brittany Anne of Brittany (; 25/26 January 1477 – 9 January 1514) was reigning Duchess of Brittany from 1488 until her death, and Queen of France from 1491 to 1498 and from 1499 to her death. She was the only woman to have been queen consort of Fran ...
, to celebrate her marriage to
Louis XII Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), also known as Louis of Orléans was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples (as Louis III) from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second ...
, King of France in 1499. Rorimer interpreted the A and E monogram that appears in each tapestry as the first and the last letters of Anne's name. Margaret B. Freeman, however, rejected this interpretation in her 1976 monograph, a conclusion repeated by Adolph S. Cavallo in his 1998 work. Tom Campbell, former Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, acknowledged in 2002 that experts "still do not know for whom or where he tapestrieswere made."


The Stirling Tapestries

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...
commissioned a set of seven hand-made tapestries for
Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most historically and architecturally important castles in Scotland. The castle sits atop an Intrusive rock, intrusive Crag and tail, crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill ge ...
, a recreation of ''The Unicorn Tapestries'', as part of a project to furnish the castle as it was in the 16th century. It was part-funded by the Quinque Foundation of the United States. All seven currently hang in the Queen's Inner Hall in the Royal Palace. The tapestry project was managed by West Dean College in West Sussex and work began in January 2002. The weavers worked in two teams, one based at the college, the other in a purpose-built studio in the Nether Bailey of Stirling Castle. The first three tapestries were completed in Chichester, the remainder at Stirling Castle. Historians studying the reign of
James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...
believe that a similar series of "Unicorn" tapestries were part of the Scottish Royal tapestry collection. The team at West Dean Tapestry visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to inspect the originals and researched the medieval techniques, the colour palette and materials. Traditional techniques and materials were used with mercerised cotton taking the place of silk to preserve its colour better. The wool was specially dyed at West Dean College.


In popular culture

* In 1961,
Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
published '' The Spice Box of Earth'', a collection of poems including "The Unicorn Tapestries". * The opening sequence of the 1982 animated movie '' The Last Unicorn'' was designed in reference to the tapestries, with many elements such as the fountain and lions, as well as the overall style being extremely similar. * The seventh tapestry in the series ("The Unicorn in Captivity") appears briefly in '' Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince'', adorning the wall of a corridor near the Room of Requirement and the tapestry is seen in the various common rooms (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff) with different coloured backgrounds. Also appears in the movie ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows''. At Universal Studios in Los Angeles and Orlando replicas of this tapestry can be seen adorning the wall in the queue for the Forbidden Journey ride which replicates the interior of the Hogwarts Castle. * It appears in '' Spider-Man: Far From Home'' in the art room of the school. In the shot of MJ's (
Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...
) first appearance ''The Unicorn in Captivity'' can be spotted in the upper right corner. * It appears in
Rumpelstiltskin "Rumpelstiltskin" ( ; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in the 1812 edition of ''Children's and Household Tales''. The story is about an imp who spins straw into gold in exchange for a woman's firstborn child. Plot I ...
's castle in ''
Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has started many narrative ...
''. * It appears in the episode "The Lich" in Season 4 of ''
Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
''. * It appears above Stewie's cot in the episode "Chap Stewie" of season 12 of ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...
''. * It appears in
BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...
in S2E2 * The tapestry "The Unicorn is Found" appears in one of the last scenes in the film ''
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past ''Ghosts of Girlfriends Past'' is a 2009 American Fantasy film, fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Mark Waters. The script was written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (screenwriter), Scott Moore, based on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella ''A Chr ...
''. * It appears in the 1988 film '' Some Girls''. * It appears in the 1993 film ''
The Secret Garden ''The Secret Garden'' is a children's novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett first published in book form in 1911, after serialisation in ''The American Magazine'' (November 1910 – August 1911). Set in England, it is seen as a classic of English c ...
''. * In a French commercial for the cheese "Coeur de Lion", which means "Lionheart". Pub Coeur de Lion – Moyen Age. * A collage of the tapestry appears on the cover of the music album '' The Mask and Mirror'' by Canadian composer-musician
Loreena McKennitt Loreena McKennitt (born February 17, 1957) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who writes, records, and performs world music with Celtic music, Celtic and Middle Eastern music, Middle Eastern influences. McKenni ...
. * The tapestries'
millefleur Millefleur, millefleurs or mille-fleur (French language, French mille-fleurs, literally "thousand flowers") refers to a background style of many different small flowers and plants, usually shown on a green ground, as though growing in grass. It i ...
were adapted and redesigned by artist
Leon Coward Camerata Academica of the Antipodes is an Australian chamber orchestra and vocal ensemble formed in 2014. It was founded by three Coward siblings, Imogen, Taliésin and Leon, who are all multi-instrumentalists and composers, together with var ...
for the mural ''The Happy Garden of Life'' in the 2016 sci-fi movie '' 2BR02B: To Be or Naught to Be'' as part of the mural's religious allusions. The flowers are modeled on those in ''The Unicorn in Captivity''. * Elementary school readers of Mary Pope Osborne's popular '' Magic Tree House'' series are introduced to the tapestries and the Cloisters Museum in ''Blizzard of the Blue Moon''. * The tapestries are the subject matter of
Samuel R. Delany Samuel R. "Chip" Delany (, ; born April 1, 1942) is an American writer and literary critic. His work includes fiction (especially science fiction), memoir, criticism, and essays on science fiction, literature, sexual orientation, sexuality, and ...
's short story "Tapestry," found in '' Aye, and Gomorrah, and other stories''. * It appears in a seventh-season episode of ''
The Venture Brothers ''The Venture Bros.'' is an American adult animation, adult animated action comedy television series created by Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer for Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. Following a pilot episode on February 1 ...
'', which is also named after the tapestry. * "The Unicorn in Captivity" is displayed in Sabrina's house in the 2018 TV series '' The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina'' (best seen in episode 9). * "The Unicorn in Captivity" is displayed in Niles Caulder's house in the 2019 TV series ''
Doom Patrol Doom Patrol is a superhero team from DC Comics. The original Doom Patrol first appeared in ''My Greatest Adventure'' #80 (June 1963), and was created by writers Arnold Drake and Bob Haney, along with artist Bruno Premiani. Doom Patrol has appear ...
'' (best seen in episode 7). * The tapestries are mentioned in the 1982 novel '' Annie on My Mind'' in which the main characters see and discuss the tapestries while visiting The Cloisters Museum. * Pearls Before Swine's 1970 album '' The Use of Ashes'' features a detail of "The Hunters Return to the Castle" on its cover. * "The Unicorn in Captivity" is the primary background art for the script publication of the play '' Heroes of the Fourth Turning''. *In the 2025 film '' Death of a Unicorn'', the story of the tapestries is used as a parallel to the film's events. The fifth tapestry, which only exists in fragments, is fictitiously revealed in its entirety in the film, depicting the unicorn violently killing its captors.


The full set

File:The Hunters Enter the Woods (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118981.jpg, "The Hunters Enter the Woods" File:The Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestry 1.jpg, "The Unicorn Purifies Water" File:The Unicorn is Attacked (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118985.jpg, "The Unicorn Crosses a Stream" File:The Unicorn Defends Itself (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118987.jpg, "The Unicorn Defends Himself" File:The Mystic Capture of the Unicorn (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP155501.jpg, The two Fragments of "The Unicorn Surrenders to a Maiden" File:The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle (from the Unicorn Tapestries) MET DP118989.jpg, "The Hunters Return to the Castle" The Unicorn in Captivity - Google Art Project.jpg, " The Unicorn Rests in a Garden"


See also

* '' The Lady and the Unicorn'', another series of unicorn tapestries from the same period


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * *


Further reading

* *


External links


Unicorn tapestries
in the collection of the MET *
''The Hunt and The Cloisters, Temple of the Sun''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorn Tapestries, The 1490s works 1500s works 15th century in Paris 16th century in Paris 15th century in Brussels 16th century in Brussels 1850s archaeological discoveries Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gothic art Tapestries Works about unicorns Animals in art Hunting in popular culture Dogs in art Deer in art Horses in art Hunting in art Birds in art Rabbits and hares in art The Cloisters Recovered works of art