The most amazing Flemish tapestries.

Two of my favourite tapestries are the two French/Flemish Renaissance (late 15th century) ones representing the "Lady and the Unicorn" and the "Hunt of the Unicorn". The first is located at the Musée national du Moyen Âge in Cluny and the other in the Cloisters Museum in New York. The first represents the five senses and an ideal representation of understanding or love, the second represents the hunt of a unicorn and its joyous "resurrection". In both works the unicorn might be a symbol of the Virgin and of Christ. I believe these tapestries are the essence of the Renaissance magic, that idealised version of the Middle Ages that we all dream of.

The Lady and the Unicorn

Touch

Taste

Smell

Hearing

Sight

À Mon Seul Désir

The Hunt of the Unicorn

The Start of the Hunt

 

Fragments of the "Mystic Capture of the Unicorn"

The Unicorn is Found

The Unicorn is Attacked

The Unicorn Defends Itself

The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle

The Unicorn is in Captivity and No Longer Dead