The Tapestries of the Dame with Unicorn, Allegory of the Senses
Interview with Olivier Sirost
By Élisabeth DelahayeEnglish
At the end of the fifteenth century, the work Dame with Unicorn staged six tapestries representing an allegory of the senses. In addition to sound, feeling, sight, taste, and smell, the sixth tapestry represents the heart which crowns the other senses. The order of the senses is rediscovered in nineteenth and twentieth centuries by writers like G. Sand or R. M. Rilke, and focalized the sensorial turn in historical debates.