Mon Carnet de Voyage

Musée de Cluny

The Musée national du Moyen Age (The Museum of the Middle Ages, commonly referred to as the Musée de Cluny), is situated in the Latin Quarter, in the centre of Paris. It’s the one somewhat lesser known museum that I always insert on every friend’s itinerary when asked to prepare one, for a three day trip to Paris.

You might line up for the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, but why not skip down the list to one of the many museums that Paris has, on just one theme or one epoch in history. The fact that artist Eugène Delacroix has his own museum, is indicative of the place that art, history and its appreciation, represents in French culture. In Paris, the Post Office has its own museum, and apparently, it is pretty impressive!

The reason for a visit to the Musée de Cluny, is the six panel tapestry, known as La Dame et La Licorne, or, The Lady and the Unicorn. After winding your way through medieval chests, swords, suits of mesh, jousting helmets (jousting sticks...what do you want with jousting sticks, darl?) statues, epitaphs, plates, paintings (first image above), stained-glass windows (above lower)...you arrive in a round and silent room where people immediately become quiet on entry.

Until Tracey Chevalier wrote a fiction novel with the same title, this tapestry wasn’t too well known. The first time I found this museum, I remember having that speechless feeling, when faced with a work of art that really speaks to you.

The best bit about this work of art, is that no-one really know what it all means. It remains an unsolved work of art. Much like that over-coveted half-smiling lady in the Louvre, except that to view this artwork, you don’t have to peer over the heads of hundreds of tourists. You can simply sit in front of it, surrounded by all six tapestries in a very dark room, and think about what it all means.

Each of the five ‘sense’ tapestries depict the same woman as appreciating the five senses:

Sight: the lady looks upon a mirror, reflecting to her the unicorn by her side, whilst a lion looks on.
Hearing: the lady plays a type of organ, assisted by a maidservant
Smell: the lady weaves a garland of flowers
Taste: the lady reaches to a basket of confectionery offered by her maidservant
Touch: whilst holding a flag with a coat of arms, she touches the unicorn

One separate tapestry titled “A Mon Sevl Desir” (above) is the conclusion of the six panel artwork, and in this, she is offered riches and jewels by the same maidservant, yet she is in the act of returning her own jewelry to the basket, perhaps to signify, that she could not want anything more. Throughout the six tapestries, are detailed images of nature, such as monkeys, foxes, lambs, dogs, leopards, rabbits, trees and flowers.

So to explain what it all means? Here are a few theories, based on Latin translations of those four words, “A Mon Sevl Desir”/ “My Only Desire”:

Some people believe that the secret to love is the hidden meaning of the tapestry. It is a celebration of desire.

Some believe that there are six ways for a man (do they mean humankind or men?) to recognise beauty - through the five senses, and the intellect, being the sixth sense.

Or, perhaps as some believe, it depicts the only thing that love desires - beauty of the soul.

…or of course, that old religious chestnut, the renunciation of desire to free the soul.

Either way, it’s nice to look at, and leaves you feeling like you are not alone in the world. That love, is the one thing that ties us all together.

BnF

This week, I thought to take a few photos of the Library, seeing as the trees in the forest are starting to blossom with Spring (even though it hailed buckets of ice on the children in the playground this afternoon and it is blustery cold…they kept playing mind you)…so I’ll leave you with these…next blog will be this weekend’s trip to Reims to visit the Champagne caves of Mumm, and Moët et Chandon. A la Santé! Or rather, Bottoms up!