The
thesis defended here that is moved forward by MR ANDRÉ
ARNAUD who was creator of cartoons in the workshop Robert FOUR in AUBUSSON,
and displayed in the magazine Gallery of Arts n ° 209 of the October,
1981, special number Magic of the tapestry.
I want here pay tribute to him.
You will
see, with The Lady and the Unicorn, we are far from the simple interpretation
usually known of the Five Senses !
The
tapestries of The Lady and the Unicorn were woven for Antoine
Le Viste, perhaps in Brussels, Tournai or Bruges.
They
can be the work of the painter Jean Perréal,
known as Jehan of Paris.
The
mysterious Lady is Mary Tudor Brandon,
third wife of Louis XII and sister of Henry VIII, who was the queen of France
from August to December 1514.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
The
second woman is Claude of France,
wife of François 1st.
The
six tapestries, currently visible in the Museum
of the Middle Ages and the Thermal Baths of Cluny in Paris, part of
a series of eight tapestries, tell various episodes of Mary's life in France.
My
interpretation is the result of a deep, meaningful and serious examination of
all the details which, for some people, had gone unnoticed or were never considered
with enough rigour.
I
would be very happy to read your remarks and your suggestions about my interpretation
: please, write me on :
jacky.lorette@laposte.net
-
- - - - - - - - - -
1-
The Taste
Mary, queen
of France, sends jewels to her brother. The supposed candies and fruits are pearls.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
2-
The Hearing
Louis
XII died on 1st January 1515. Mary (called White Queen) has been locked up for
40 days in the Hotel of Cluny, the current museum where the tapestries are exhibited,
a time to know if she is pregnant of the late king. Let us notice that Mary and
the unicorn are pregnant. To save time until the arrival of Charles Brandon or
to get revenge for the attitude of Louise of Savoy, Mary simulated a pregnancy
by dissimulating on her belly fabrics of linen.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
3-
The Sight
Mary
fears her return to England. To persuade her brother Henry VIII, she sends him
the "Mirror of Napoli" brought back with so many other treasures of
Naples by Charles VIII, a diamond of very great value. She marries secretly, again
at the Hotel of Cluny, Charles Brandon (that the unicorn represents),
the duke of Suffolk.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
4-
The Smell
Mary is not
queen any more, she loses her French crown. She removes one by one the French
carnations from her crown which she will replace by English roses.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
5-
The Touch (the Tent - My only desire)
Mary
waits in Calais for the boat to Dover. It is the moment for each one to formulate
his desire, that of Mary, that of Antoine Viste, and why not that of the painter.
Two remarks which indicate the achievement of a cycle : Mary wears a red dress
like the one she wore on her arrival in Abbeville, the same dress as in the Taste
and she puts in the jewel case the necklace that she wears in the Taste, at the
very beginning of the series. The painter insists on showing that the French cycle
of Mary is completed and that she finds her original purity back, without fault
and sin.
-
- - - - - - - - - -
6-
Pavie
Mary
is not present on this tapestry weaved to evoke the anger of the financier and
the painter against Francis Ist after the defeat of the French army to Pavie in
1525. François Ist, loser and prisoner in Madrid, is depicted under the
lines of animals carrying a necklace or an obstacle. The coalition so appears
: Henry VIII is the unicorn, Charles the Fifth is the lion, The "Connétable"
of Bourbon is the Lady under the lines of his aunt in Athéna, Anne de Beaujeu,
who was the one that Louis XII called with Mary when she came in France in 1515.
*
