The Lady and the Unicorn (French: La Dame à la licorne) is the modern title given to a series of six tapestries woven in Flanders of wool and silk, from designs (cartoons) drawn in Paris around 1500.[1] The set, on display in the Musée national du Moyen Âge (former Musée de Cluny) in Paris, is often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe. Five of the tapestries are commonly interpreted as depicting the five senses – taste, hearing, sight, smell, and touch. The sixth displays the words À mon seul désir. The tapestrys meaning is obscure, but has been interpreted as representing love or understanding. Each of the six tapestries depicts a noble lady with the unicorn on her left and a lion on her right; some include a monkey in the scene. The pennants, as well as the armour of the Unicorn and Lion in the tapestry bear the arms of the sponsor, Jean Le Viste, a powerful nobleman in the court of King Charles VII. However, a very recent study of the heraldry appears to lend credence to another hypothesis - previously dismissed - that the real sponsor of the tapestry is Antoine II Le Viste (1470-1534), a descendant of the younger branch of the Le Viste family and an important figure at the court of Charles VIII, Louis XII and François I.[2] The tapestries are created in the style of mille-fleurs (meaning: thousand flowers). (courtesy Wikipedia) The two below are available on artneedlepoint 1. The Unicorn in Captivity Canvas: tinyurl/my7fkho 2. Amon Seul Desir or My Soul Desire Kit: tinyurl/mhnj4lx Like or Love??
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 16:17:16 +0000
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