The Lady and the Unicorn

The Lady and the Unicorn (French: La Dame à la licorne) is the name we use today for a group of six tapestries. They were made in the style of mille-fleurs ("thousand flowers"). The tapestries were woven in Flanders using wool and silk. The designs, called "cartoons," were drawn in Paris around the year 1500. You can see these tapestries at the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

Five of the tapestries show the five senses: taste, hearing, sight, smell, and touch. In each picture, there is a noble lady with a unicorn on her left and a lion on her right. Sometimes a monkey is also in the scene. The sixth tapestry has the words "À mon seul désir," which means "to my only desire." We do not know exactly what this means, but many think it is about love or deep understanding. People have enjoyed these colorful tapestries and the stories about them for many years.

History

The famous tapestries called The Lady and the Unicorn were found in 1841 at Boussac Castle by Prosper Mérimée. They were in poor shape because of damp and mold. In 1844, the writer George Sand helped people learn about them. In 1882, Edmond Du Sommerard, the curator of the Musée de Cluny in Paris, bought the tapestries. Since then, they have been taken care of and fixed up. Now, they are shown at the Musée de Cluny.

Content and themes

The tapestries show the five senses through pictures of a lady, a unicorn, and a lion. Scholars think they were made for a rich person in the French court.

Each picture shows the lady with the unicorn and the lion. In "Touch," she touches the unicorn's horn. In "Taste," she eats sweets with a monkey. In "Smell," she makes a flower wreath, and the monkey smells a flower. In "Hearing," she plays a small organ. In "Sight," she looks at the unicorn in a mirror. The last tapestry, "À Mon Seul Désir", shows the lady putting a necklace in a chest. This might mean her choice or her thoughts. The tapestries use animals and things to show each sense.

Popular culture

The tapestries have been seen in many books, movies, and games. In the Harry Potter films, copies of the tapestries are used to decorate the Gryffindor common room. The sixth tapestry, called "À Mon Seul Désir", is also shown in the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn series and a few other stories.

Artists and musicians have used the tapestries for inspiration too. For example, the cover of the album UnChild by Sawano Hiroyuki and Aimer is based on one of the tapestries. The tapestries have also appeared in films, games, and an episode of Little Einsteins called "The Song of The Unicorn."