The Toronto Star had a "Special Report" on fall travel in last Monday's (September 6, 2010) edition. One especially enchanting place to visit is The Cloisters in New York. One sometimes forgets the fascination for old Europe that Americans (and Canadians) had. In this day and age, Europe seems to have lost its luster. The Cloisters are especially interesting since the structures were re-assembled from originals from France, gifted by the great John D. Rockefeller Jr.
I have never been to The Cloisters, but have always known that they house the beautiful tapestries The Hunt of the Unicorn. But, I was lucky to see another set of unicorn tapestries, The Lady and the Unicorn (La Dame à la Licorne), housed in the Musée de Cluny, in Paris.
While studying botanical art, I wrote an article in which I do an expansive (idiosyncratic?) review of botanical art through the centuries. I mention The Lady and the Unicorn briefly, explaining how the work merged the decorative and medicinal elements of plants.
The article, Botanical Art and the Decorative Arts was published in the Botanical Artists of Canada Newsletter in the Summer 2007 issue (pp3-4).
