The Unicorn Tapestries

Tapestry is a form of textile art, woven on a vertical loom. It is composed of two sets of interlaced threads, those running parallel to the length (called the "warp") and those parallel to the width (called the "weft"). The warp threads are set up under tension on a loom, and the weft thread is passed back and forth across part or all of the warps.

Most weavers use a naturally based warp thread such as linen or cotton. The weft threads are usually wool or cotton, but may include silk, gold, silver, or other alternatives.

Tapestries have been used since at least Hellenistic times. Samples of Greek tapestry have been found preserved in the desert of Tarim Basin dating from the 3rd century BC. Tapestry reached a new stage in Europe in the early fourteenth century AD. The first wave of production originated in Germany and Switzerland. Over time, the craft expanded to France and the Netherlands.

The success of decorative tapestry can be partially explained by its portability. Kings and noblemen could roll up and transport tapestries from one residence to another. In churches, they could be displayed on special occasions. Tapestries were also draped on the walls of castles for insulation during winter, as well as for decorative display.

In the Middle Ages and renaissance, a rich tapestry panel known as a baldachin (or a canopy of state or cloth of state), woven with symbolic emblems, mottoes, or coats of arms, was hung behind and over a throne as a symbol of authority.

Tapestries are still made at the factory of Gobelins and a few other old European workshops, which also repair and restore old tapestries. The craft is also currently practiced by hobbyist weavers.

The creation of the tapestries is thought to have been between 1495-1505, in the areas of Brussels or Liège in the Southern Netherlands. For whom the tapestries were woven remains a mystery. There are clues but no conclusive evidence to give scholars a solid answer.

The weavers were generally young men and each Unicorn tapestry likely had a team of between 4-6 working on it. They wove only by daylight, to insure that the colors were consistent and not distorted by candlelight. One tapestry would have taken a team at least a year to complete. The weavers used a mixture of silk and wool, as well as silver and gilt (gold) wefts.

What we do know is the tapestries were in the possession of the La Rochefoucauld family of France for centuries and hung in the family's chateau in Verteuil, a town in Charente, north of Bordeaux.

In 1789 a mob of peasants raided the chateau during the French Revolution, taking the Unicorn Tapestries. The La Rochefoucauld family fled the uprising but eventually returned. Two generations later, in 1855, the La Rochefoucauld family asked for locals who might still have the tapestries to come forward with them so the then duc du La Rochefoucauld could buy them back. Some local farming families produced the Unicorn Tapestries and ownership of the Unicorn Tapestries returned to the La Rochefoucauld family.

During the "lost" years, the tapestries were used by the farming families to protect potatoes in barns and wrap fruit trees during the winter to keep them from freezing. Surprisingly the tapestries had not suffered much damage and were in good condition.

In 1922, La Rochefoucauld sold the tapestries to John D Rockefeller, Jr. for just over a million dollars. He kept them in his Fifth Avenue apartment before donating them to the Cloisters in 1937. The Cloisters is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated to the art and architecture of the European Middle Ages and is located in upper Manhattan, a borough of New York City, NY.

The seven Unicorn Tapestries are thought to represent several themes. Symbolism in tapestries from medieval times was a common practice; people, plants, and animals held dual meanings for the viewer to interpret.

Some scholars view the seven tapestries to represent the Passion of Christ, in the form an an allegory; ("allegory" means: "a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another.") The unicorn is believed to represent Jesus Christ as he was persecuted, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified and died on the cross, descended into hell, and rose again three days later before ascending to Heaven.

Others view the symbolism as those of love and marriage, with tokens of fidelity, fertility and love mixed in. Many of the plants woven into the imagery were identified with these meanings. There is also the love between Christ and his mother, the Virgin Mary, as well as between Christ and the Church. Another might say the images represent a tale of courtly love, presenting the search and eventual capture of the lover-bridegroom by his adored lady.

Because of the differences in style of some of the tapestries, some believe that the 1st and 7th tapestries were symbolic of the Hunt of the Unicorn as a Lover. Tapestries 2-4 and 6 were more representative of the Passion of Christ Allegory. And the 5th Tapestry, the one that survives in fragments, was part of the Mystic Hunt of the Unicorn. Some believe there might have been more tapestries that were lost, depicting more of the hunting scenes.

Throughout all seven tapestries the initials A and E (the E was usually depicted reversed) are seen. Sometimes woven among the trees and landscape, sometimes on the collars of the hunting hounds, on the collar of the unicorn. Some believe these initials to stand of Adam and Eve. Others believe they might have been the initials of the couple these tapestries were woven for. No one knows for sure.

Some of the tapestries, particularly the 6th, show signs of being patched. Some believe this was because of symbols of aristocracy contained in the blue skies of the tapestries that were cut out in order for the entire tapestries to escape destruction during the French Revolution.

In 1998, while construction was taking place at the Cloisters, the Unicorn Tapestries were removed and taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for cleaning and repair by the museum's textile department.

One by one, the tapestries (which are 12 feet tall and up to 14 feet wide) were laid out face down on a large table in the "wet lab". The original backings used to protect and support the tapestries were brittle and needing to be replaced. Such a delicate operation was done with use of tweezers and magnifying lenses, to remove the threads that held the backings in place.

Once removed, the conservators realized that backs of the tapestries held a mirror image of the front that had been preserved and protected for over 500 years. They were incredibly bright, rich, and deep, more subtle and natural-looking than the fronts, due to being unfaded.

A decision was made to photograph both sides of the tapestries, to record digitally both for preservation. This was done by a small team who rigged a giant metal scaffolding with a mounted a Leica digital camera on it. The tapestries were forbidden from being touched, so they were laid out on a sheet of plastic and the camera, on its scaffolding, was moved over it.

Because the camera had a narrow field of vision, only 3x3 foot sections were taken, overlapping the images so they could be reassembled in a computer to make a seamless mosaic of the tapestries.

Unfortunately, no one took into account that as the tapestries were laid out after their purified water baths, they would begin to dry. Drying textiles change shape, as their threads twist and loop in the air. The digital files of the images were so large it proved impossible to reassemble the images. Minute changes in the shape and placement of the threads rendered a seamless assembly nearly impossible.

Enter Gregory and David Chudnovsky, number theorists and mathematicians. The brothers work in IMAS, the Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing at Polytechnic University, in Brooklyn. The brothers were given the image files in 2003 and discovered that, although not as easy as they first suspected, they could join the image tiles together by calculating the pixels crunched their billions of calculations via their supercomputer. But the image they produced in the end is flawless.

Since January 2002, the Tapestry Studio at West Dean College has been working on a recreation of The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries. Once completed, the tapestries will be displayed in the Queen's Presence Chamber at Stirling Castle, all part of a project to furnish the castle as it would have been in the 16th century.

Historians studying the reign of James IV believe that a similar series of 'Unicorn' tapestries were part of the royal collection.

The team at West Dean Tapestry visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York to inspect the originals and researched into medieval techniques, the color palette and materials. This project is due for completion in 2014. To date, tapestries 1, 6, and 7 have been completed.