After last Friday's class I got really interested in tapestries portraying the hunts in Medieval times. I was especially interested in the famed, Unicorn Tapestries so I did a little research and found a great website with a lot of really cool facts and information about the tapestries. You can look up whatever interests you, from the story behind the hunt itself, to the subjects in it, to the lore behind the legend of the unicorn. The part of the site I liked the best was the mention of what the hunstmen wore on the hunt and all the hidden allegories and allusions in just their clothes! Anyway, have fun exploring the site!
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/unicorn/unicorn_splash.htm
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2 comments:
nice exhibit. I was struck by the description of one of the fragments:
"The unicorn comes eagerly to the lap of the maid whose delicate hand rest on his mane. Medieval authorities agreed on the essentials of this episode, as the unicorn surrendered his fierceness and became vulnerable though his encounter with the maid, so Christ surrendered his divine nature and became human through the Virgin Mary."
makes me think of Gilgamesh and the civilizing influence of the woman--the question of whether man/wildness is tamed by woman. hmmm.
yep, I kept reading. here's the description for the last tapestry:
"In the final tapestry the unicorn lives again. In this case he represents both the risen Christ and captured bridegroom. The imagery suggests the tapestries were designed to celebrate a marriage and many of the details reinforce this impression."
the captured bridegroom. That makes marriage sound so fun!
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