“The Unicorn Rests in a Garden”
Here is one that the 12-year-old in me is thrilled to research and write about.
“The Unicorn Rests in a Garden”, sometimes referred to as “The Unicorn in Captivity”, is a tapestry made from gilded thread, silver silk, and wool. Made in the Southern Netherlands between 1495 and 1505, it is one of the finest pieces of artworks still in existence from the Middle Ages. From the style of art, it is believed to have been designed in Paris, France and created in the vicinity of Brussels, Belgium.
This is one of seven tapestries that make up The Unicorn Tapestries, also known as The Hunt of the Unicorn. It is the most well-known of the series. It is still unclear what order the tapestries were intended to be in, but the series details the entrapment of a unicorn by a virgin, which is subsequently hunted and killed. This tapestry is placed either at the beginning or end of the series. From its docile manner within the fence, many believe it shows the unicorn as tamed.
In this piece, a unicorn is laying down within a wooden fence. It wears a blue color and is chained to a pomegranate tree, also within the enclosure. The tree is ripe with fruit, with some fruit overripe and opening. Some evidence of pomegranate seeds and juice rest on the coat of the unicorn.
The setting is rich and dense with flowers of all kinds and colors, known as the millefleur background style, which was popular from around 1400 to 1550, and which William Morris revived with his tapestries in the late 1800s. Some of the identifiable flowers include violets, lilies, forget-me-nots, thistles, bistort, daffodils, and wild orchids. If you look closely, you can find little hidden details, such as a dragonfly drinking nectar from a lily, and a frog hidden among some violets.
There is a monogram, AE, located in three of the tapestry’s corners, and entangled around the pomegranate tree. The same initials are located on each of the seven tapestries. There is speculation as to their meaning, but no one knows for sure what or who it represents.
There is some speculation whether this is actually part of the series, or a standalone piece. Most art historians seem to agree that the tapestries may have been commissioned by one of the members of the La Rochefoucauld family of France for an impending marriage. The House of La Rochefoucauld is one of the most esteemed peerages in France, and the tapestries remained in the family’s possession for several centuries. They were looted from the family during the French Revolution but returned to their possession by the end of the 1880s. John Rockefeller bought all seven pieces in 1922 for a million dollars, and in 1937, donated them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
For those Harry Potter fans out there, you can see this tapestry in both movies, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, within some of the common rooms of the various houses in Hogwarts.
“The Unicorn Rests in a Garden” is currently on display at The Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City, in the United States.
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