The Unicorn is in Captivity and No Longer Dead
The seventh and final scene from the "Unicorn Tapestries", one of the most spectacular but enigmatic surviving artworks of the late Middle Ages. Depicting a unicorn hunt, in the penultimate tapestry in the series the unicorn is eventually killed. In this last, however, the unicorn is shown alive and well, and entirely tamed. He is fenced in and chained to a tree, but the chain is less than secure and the fence is low. He has submitted to his captivity. The red stains on his flank, in the words of the Met’s catalog, “do not appear to be blood, as there are no visible wounds like those in the hunting series; rather, they represent juice dripping from bursting pomegranates” — a medieval symbol of marriage and fertility. In the resurrection element there is also a clear parallel with the story of Jesus. (Image source: The Metropolitan Museum)
- Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, v2. Tab 18 Mark Catesby
- Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, v1. Tab 74 Mark Catesby
- Poppy Anemones, Caterpillar, Fig, and Quince Joris Hoefnagel
- How Sweet is Love Adriaen Pietersz van de Venne
- Louis Renard's Fish, Plate XLIV Louis Renard (after Samuel Fallours)
- Plate 57, cirripedia Ernst Haeckel
- Wallaby Skeleton Edouard Joseph d’Alton
- Fashionable Battle of Frogs: III Kawanabe Kyōsai