The Unicorn Tapestries in The Metropolitan Museum of Art Met Publications|Art History & Reference

By Adolfo Salvatore Cavallo

The unicorn tapestries are one of the most popular attractions at The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, the medieval branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Traditionally known as The Hunt of the Unicorn, this set of seven exquisite and enigmatic tapestries was likely completed between 1495 and 1505. The imaginatively conceived scenes—displaying individualized faces of the hunters and naturalistically depicting the flora and fauna of the landscape—are beautifully captured in silk, wool, and metal yarns. Written by one of the world’s leading authorities on medieval textiles and illustrated with many lovely color reproductions, The Unicorn Tapestries traces the origins of the tapestries as well as possible interpretations of their symbolic meaning. This is…See More