À mon seul désir (To my only desire) (detail), tapestry called Lady and the Unicorn, ca. 1500.
Tapestry in wool and silk threads. H. 377 ; l. 473 cm.
Paris, musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen Âge.
© Photo Rmn - GP, (Musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen Âge) / M. Urtado.
© Rmn - Grand Palais...
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À mon seul désir (To my only desire) (detail), tapestry called Lady and the Unicorn, ca. 1500.
Tapestry in wool and silk threads. H. 377 ; l. 473 cm.
Paris, musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen Âge.
© Photo Rmn - GP, (Musée de Cluny - musée national du Moyen Âge) / M. Urtado.
© Rmn - Grand Palais, Paris 2023.
The remaining sixth sense, explained only by the inscription "À mon seul désir" (To my only desire), has inspired countless theories. Without excluding a possible meaning in the register of courtly love, it could be a reference to free will: the woman with her decorative headdress and refined clothing, renouncing temporal pleasures.
"My only desire". The famous expression closes the series of no less famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries . It resonates like a romantic echo, floating over the five centuries which separate us from the anonymous hands which, patiently, weaved these threads which we have continued to admire ever since.
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