The Unicorn Tapestries

This weekend is fantasy weekend at the Sterling Renaissance Festival and I've decided to go as a personification of the Red Bull from the movie The Last Unicorn. The movie has been a favorite of mine since I was a little kid. I can remember renting the VHS from Blockbuster and watching it every day until it was due back. Perhaps my obsession with the movie is the reason The Unicorn in Captivity (from the Unicorn Tapestries) is one of my favorite artworks of all time. If you watch the opening song of the movie, you'll see that it is heavily styled from the Unicorn Tapestries.

In March 2014 I visited the Met's Cloisters specifically to see the Unicorn Tapestries - and the room was under construction! You can see a picture of my devastation on my About page. Luckily, I could at least get into the room, but I was blocked from getting close to my favorite tapestry of the collection. 

The Unicorn Tapestries tell a story on three levels. The first is the most obvious, the hunt of a unicorn. Secondly, the story is a metaphor for the pursuit of a spouse. Lastly, the tapestries mimic the story of Jesus being hunted for his crucifixion, killed, and then alive again like the unicorn in the final (and most famous) panel.

This final panel features several symbols that play to both the story of courtship and of Christ. During the Medieval era, unicorns were associated with virginity. Virginity was upheld as an important quality in a bride. Myth also stated that only virgins could tame a unicorn, so unicorns were often included in female portraiture to show their purity. The connection to virginity also gives a nod to the virgin Mary. Mary is also referenced by the white sword lilies in the garden. White represents virginity, while it was believed that Mary said Jesus' death was like a "sword through [her] heart."


The red splatters on the unicorn are not blood, but rather juice from the pomegranate tree above it. Pomegranates were a symbol of fertility and fidelity. The multitude of seeds in a pomegranate are also a symbol for the wide reach of the Christian Church. In the lower right hand corner of the tapestry is a frog. Because of their noisy mating, frogs were a symbol of reproduction (within the sanctity of marriage.) 

The unicorn is captured, but the fence is low and it could easily escape. This represents being content within the confines of marriage. It is possible that the tapestry was a gift for a marriage. The patrons of the tapestry are noted by the "A" and "E" above the unicorn, though their full identity is lost to us now.

Resource:
Doot Bokelman, "Medieval Art" (lecture, Nazareth College, Rochester, NY, Spring 2014).