20 December 2015 / leggypeggy

The lady and the unicorn—fabulous works of art

art, artworks, museums, Paris, senses, silk, tapestries, wool

A mon seul desir—the Lady and the Unicorn

A mon seul désir—The Lady and the Unicorn

Poor John’s Aunt Esther lived with us for eight years—from when she was 89 until she went into demented aged care at age 97. In her younger years, she’d been a teacher, school principal, school inspector, avid traveller, art lover and fussy eater.

We won’t discuss the fussy eating now (because it carried on into her old age) and instead focus on her love of art and travelling.

The other day, I was rummaging through her art books (many collected on her travels) and came upon her magnificent copy of La dame à la licorne or The lady and the unicorn.

The book’s copyright date is 1989 and I’m sure she bought it in Paris when she visited the Musée de Cluny, which is now known as Musée National du Moyen Age or Museum of the Middle Ages.

Sight—The Lady and the Unicorn

The lady and the unicorn is a set of six tapestries woven, probably in Flanders, from wool and silk. The collection is often considered Europe’s greatest works of art from the Middle Ages.

I have to agree.

This museum was one of the last places we visited when we were in France in October, and we stayed for most of a day.

These amazing tapestries are something you can gaze at for hours on end. I circled around the room they are displayed in four or five times before someone was bored/courteous/fulfilled enough to leave a seat open for me. So I sat until I felt obliged to offer my seat to someone who was equally spellbound.

Hearing—The Lady and the Unicorn

Esther’s book explains that five of the six tapestries are attributed to the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. The sixth one displays the words ‘À mon seul désir’ or ‘my only desire’. That tapestry’s core meaning is unknown, but it’s often thought to represent love or understanding.

The tapestries are made in the style of mille-fleurs, or a thousand flowers. The models for the works are thought to have been the work of a Parisian artist who was considered the master of a Christian devotional book of Queen Anne of Brittany.

Each tapestry shows a noble woman, wearing a different gown in each. A handmaiden appears in four panels. In each panel, a unicorn is on the noble woman’s left and a lion on her right. Other animals, such as monkeys, rabbits, dogs and foxes, appear in various panels. Each piece is heavily decorated with leaves, flowers and trees.

Taste—The Lady and the Unicorn

The coat of arms shown in the tapestries enabled historians to attribute the commissioning of the works to the Le Viste family, some of whom were key figures in the Paris parliament.

We’re lucky the pieces still exist today. They were located as early as 1814 in Boussac Castle and were slowly deteriorating thanks to damp and mould. They were rediscovered, still in the castle, in 1841 by the French writer Prosper Mérimée, who was also Inspector General of Historic Monuments. Novelist George Sand was the first to bring the tapestries to public attention after she saw them in 1844. She even wrote about them in her novel, Jeanne. Sand was also the first to date them, using the women’s clothing for reference.

Smell—The Lady and the Unicorn

The pieces continued to decline for almost another 40 years until the then Cluny Museum acquired them and brought them to Paris for conservation and display.

Today the pieces hang in a round room, which allows the tapestries to encircle visitors. I wish my photos were sharper and brighter, but you can find plenty of better images online.

Touch—The Lady and the Unicorn

The theme of each tapestry

Sight—The noble woman holds a mirror which reflects the face of the unicorn.

Hearing—The noble woman plays a portable organ while her handmaiden operates the bellows.

Taste—At the bottom of the tapestry a monkey puts a sweet into its mouth.

Smell—A monkey sits on a bench and sniffs carnation.

Touch—The noble woman holds the unicorn’s horn in her left hand and a spear in her right.

À mon seul désir—The exact theme of this panel remains unknown.

P.S. I’ll write about the rest of the museum in another post. In the meantime, please feel free to check out some of the tastes and smells on my cooking blog. 🙂