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For more 1 500 years, this fabulous animal has been fascinating the Occidental.
It was represented under all kind of shapes : horse, gazelle, rhinoceros, unicorn deer, kid... Its size could also vary considerably, from the size of a dog to the one of a horse.
In time, the unicorn is became the symbol of purity. Paradoxically, it was, however, according to the epoches and sensitivity, synonymous with erotism in the couple that it makes with the young woman or, on the contrary, synonymous of the embodiment of christian religion. In the christian religion, it has been representing the sacrifice of Christ when he was crucifyed. The legend wants that the unicorn be attracted by the virgins and only by them. It's why, we can see on numerous artistic pictures some hunters catching and killing a unicorn thanks to the presence of a young woman. And it's this present which has been symbolizing the history of the crucifixion.
Into the old texts, another virtue was attributed at the unicorn. In effect, one thought that its horn could protect against poisons. It was used by the great peoples who wished to prevent this risk. In reality, it was surely a horn of unicorn whale reduced to powder. But the distinction wasn't made because one believes at the existence of this fabulous animal.
The unicorn was a great importance during the Middle Ages because of what it represented for the christians. However, it interest reduced after the Renaissance because of the transformation of the symbolics : the phantasm became predominant.
We must know that the female unicorn wasn't the only one to be represented. The male unicorn traduced the phallic symbol and took an erotic sense when it was with the young woman.
Sometimes fine and gentle, sometimes cruel and wild, the western imaginary gave a paradoxical and changing image of the unicorn, but this is the dream which gave birth at the myth.
The Lady and the Unicorn (French: La Dame à la licorne) also called the Tapestry
Cycle is the title of a series of six Flemish tapestries depicting the senses. They
are estimated to have been woven in the late 15th century in the style of mille-
Gravure de Albert Dürer,
Enlèvement sur une licorne,
1516
Virgin and Unicorn, (working under Annibale Carracci), Fresco, 1604 – 1605, Farnese Palace, Rome.
