Just like Tracy Chevalier’s novel Girl with a Pearl Earring, the story features real works of art, namely six tapestries currently in the Musee de Cluny, now Musee de Moyens Age.

Set in 15th Century Paris, The Lady and the Unicorn centres around Nicholas des Innocents, a painter commissioned by the boorish, nouveau-riche Jean le Viste to create the design for a tapestry. This is a vanity project to impress the nobles at court, where coats of arms and the unlikely exploits of Jean le Viste in a recent battle will be immortalised.

While Jean wants battles and blood, his noble wife, Genevieve manages to convince Nicholas and eventually Jean, to feature unicorns and maidens. This is much more to Nicholas’ taste. He is poorly named; he’s not innocent at all and the story of the unicorn and the maiden is one he uses often to seduce women. He’s promiscuous and unfeeling for the women he ‘ploughs’. We know this from his encounter with a servant on the way to the house of Jean le Viste, who he’s previously seduced, pregnant and starting to show. The daughter she eventually gives birth to plays an interesting part in the story that Tracy Chevalier weaves along with the tapestry.

While getting the design agreed, Nicholas comes across Claude, the eldest daughter of the house and immediately desires her. and Claude immediately goes on his hot list of women to bed. As a teenager on the verge of sexual awakening, Claude is fascinated by the lecherous Nicholas and the desire between them drives much of the action in the novel. Nicholas first sees the tapestry as a job, and then as a method of continuing to see Claude.

The tapestry takes Nicholas to Brussels, where he encounters Alienor, the daughter of the weaver commissioned to produce it, another woman he seduces. But the tapestry also changes the way that Nicholas sees women, turning them into creatures that exist outside of his personal desire.

Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the characters in the story, and like a rich tapestry, the book illuminates each thread to creat the whole. Chevalier is precise in her use of historical detail and it shines through every section of the novel, throwing light on life, work and the place of women in the 1400s.

It’s not any kind of typical romance and the sex and desire is a little…blunt, but the way in which the story emerges is masterly. I enjoyed it and would recommend.

This novel provides a fictionalized history of the Unicorn tapestries, real works of art that are now on display in the Musée de Cluny. Very little is known of their creation and Tracy Chevalier has imagined the story of why and how they were made. They were commissioned by the Le Viste family around the year 1500. Chevalier does an admirable job of crafting a convincing historical fiction of the commission, design, cartooning, weaving, and hanging. The story is told by a variety of voices connected with the project.

Jean Le Viste commissions Nicholas des Innocents, a portrait artist, to design tapestries for his ballroom. At first, he asks for battle scenes, but Nicholas talks him into different subject matter based upon a conversation with Jean’s wife. Nicholas is a womanizer, and this story gets rather bawdy in describing his amorous pursuits. Nicholas attempts to seduce Le Viste’s daughter, and, later, the blind daughter of the Brussels tapestry weaver.

The writing is descriptive and fits with the historical time period. It is educational in terms of the steps required to produce a tapestry. Nicholas is a talented rogue, and it is easy to dislike him (as I am sure the author intends). Recommended to those who enjoy historical fiction about real works of art. I can also recommend Chevalier’s Remarkable Creatures and The Girl with the Pearl Earring.

Non condividendo l'entusiasmo generale per "La ragazza con l'orecchino di perla", mi sono approcciata a questo romanzo con un po' di titubanza.
Invece si tratta di una storia semplice ma avvincente, che unisce una scrittura vivace ad una buona caratterizzazione dei personaggi; buona ma non ottima, perchè i protagonisti pensano ed agiscono in maniera troppo moderna, sembrano persone di oggi intrappolate nel medioevo; anche l'ambientazione lascia molto a desiderare, è asettica e priva di qualunque peculiarità storica o culturale. Entrambi questi difetti li avevo riscontrati anche ne "La ragazza con l'orecchino di perla", comincio a pensare che sia proprio una precisa (e discutibile) scelta stilistica della Chevalier.
Invece ho molto apprezzato i punti di vista multipli, espediente non certo originale ma in grado di spezzare la monotonia dando un ritmo più sostenuto alla narrazione; anche i toni sempre in bilico tra commedia e dramma hanno contribuito a tenere desto il mio interesse.
In conclusione pur con tutti i suoi difetti è un libro estremamente scorrevole, che non pretende di essere un capolavoro ma intrattiene piacevolmente.

In a review of a Tracy Chevalier book I've read previously, I complained about the limited plot, the lack of creative license used, and that it was more or less 248 pages of chaste yearning and not much else. 'The Lady and the Unicorn' has everything I complained 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' didn't have. And I'm so glad for it!

This book centres around the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries - real life tapestries dating back to the 15th century and which were rediscovered in a château in 1841. Little is known about the artist, weavers, and the member of the Le Viste family who commissioned these tapestries which gives the author full creative license to create a story surrounding these people and the tapestries. As you follow the fictional creation of the tapestries, you get to know all involved.

Tracy Chevalier wrote some cracking characters who will definitely get an emotional rise out of you in this one (well, they did me!). It's been a while since every character in a book has produced a strong reaction from me. Notably, Nicolas des Innocents (ironically named, I know). I don't know how to describe him other than to say he is your quintessential sex pest. You get to learn from the very first chapter that he seduces young women/girls without thought of the consequences, including (but not limited to) fourteen-year-old Claude. He's ruined unicorns for me. I'm never going to be able to think of them again without thinking of their meaning in this book. And if I never hear the words "plough", "horn", and "beauty" again it'll be too soon.

All in all, I enjoyed the whimsical feel of how the tapestries (and the story itself) transformed as the artist got involved with the various female characters. The bittersweet ending was perfect.

Meist recht unterhaltsam, aber auch sehr vorhersehbar. Manche Figuren fand ich trotz mehrfacher Perspektivenwechsel recht flach sowie deren Verhalten auch nicht unbedingt nachvollziehbar.

ba, cum poate fata asta sa scrie niste povesti asa de faine inspirate de tesatorii si tablouri faimoase despre care se stie asa de putin nu am sa inteleg niciodata

One of my favorite books of all time!

Here is another cleverly written historical novel about a great piece of art by the author of Girl With a Pearl Earring. This time it's the making of the famous Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Not much is known about them in reality. They appear to have been made sometime at the end of the 15th century in Flanders and are thought to have been commissioned by a member of the La Viste family. There are six in all and they tell a story of taming the unicorn by a series of noblewomen. They also represent the senses. These are some of the most beautiful of medieval tapestries and were almost lost to history. They were re-discovered in the mid 19th century, were finally restored and now hang in the Musée de Cluny in Paris.

Tracy Chevalier has written another intricate fictional story around this artwork. She introduces us to Nicholaus de Innocentes, the artist who is a great seducer of women yet seems to have an appreciation for them also. He is commisioned to make the original painting. When he becomes enamored of Lord La Viste's daughter he winds up using her face for one of the panels. He also uses several other faces of women he meets for the other panels and there is a story behind each one. The Lord's wife, the weaver's wife, and his daughter all wind up in the famous tapestries. Each character has a story to tell and a reaction to these tapestries.

We will probably never know how or why these beautiful things were actually created, but Tracy Chevalier has given us a thoughtful and pleasant tale to think about. It is also an interesting look in the craft of medieval weaving itself.

Роман спада у жанр драма/љубавни, међутим, сви они који очекују неку срцепарајућу љубавну причу - разочараће се.
Трејси Шевалије није писац љубавних романа, она је неко ко се заинтересује одређеним уметничким делом, занатом, историјском личношћу или догађајем, затим се посвети њеном проучавању, детаљном истраживању и прикупљању информација и на основу тога исплете љубавну/породичну причу како би читаоцима на најбољи могући начин представила предмет своје фасцинације.

За разлику од великог броја бестселер аутора који су у стању да избаце по 5-6 романа који сви личе једни на друге - њен сваки роман је прича за себе, нека нова тема чијем се истраживању и проучавању она максимално посвети и због тога никада ниједном њеном роману не бих дала лошу оцену.
Без обзира што можда они сами по себи нису ништа спектакуларно - ја сам после сваког научила нешто ново, после сваког сам претраживала интернет у жељи да сазнам још више, видим слике и сл.

Тако је било и након читања овог романа. Још од 2007. када сам га први пут прочитала имам жељу да посетим Национални музеј средњег века у Паризу и видим тих чувених пет таписерија "Дама са једнорогом" начињених још у 15. веку.
На свакој таписерији је представљена Дама са једнорогом у таквом чину и окружењу да представља одређено чуло - чуло вида, слуха, укуса, мириса и додира.

Оно што доказује Трејсину изузетну маштовитост и домишљатост је чињеница да је и дан данас мистерија ко је начинио и наручио ове таписерије (зна се само да је то морао бити неко од породице Ле Вист), а она је на основу ретких информација које је успела да прикупи исплела читаву причу о једном шармантном сликару женскарошу, озлојађеној властелинској породици где свако мисли само на свој властити интерес, о једној вредној ткачкој породици где се свако труди да да свој допринос у изради ових уникатних уметничких дела које су мукотрпним радом израђиване даноноћно и то по пар година како би красиле читаве зидове племићких породица.

Роман је подељен у поглавља тако да у сваком одређени лик прича своју личну причу и борбу, а све њих повезују те таписерији и сви на неки начин имају улогу у њиховој изради или ономе што представљају.

Одличан роман за љубитеље уметности, антиквитета и старих заната.

Mi aspettavo qualcosa in più, in alcuni momenti l'aspetto romance ha prevalso troppo sul romanzo storico per miei gusti.
Quindi il libro risulta carino ma non lascia il segno.

Jean Le Viste commissions painter Nicholas des Innocents to design six tapestries that will be hung in a grand hall within his magnificent Paris home. Jean is a conniving, deviously ambitious nobleman with a depressed wife and three daughters. The oldest daughter, Claude is beautiful and falls head over heals for Nicholas. Of course, this love is not meant to be, as Claude is nobility and Nicholas is just a mere painter, not to mention a womanizer and scoundrel, yet he is deliciously appealing.
Nicolas designs six tapestries which depict a series of six ladies, each contributing to the seduction of a unicorn. The senses, touch, sense, sight, hearing, and taste are portrayed in the first five, while the sixth depicts love. The unicorn is in a quandary of sorts. Nicolas is sent to Brussels to oversee the weaving of his designs, and in doing so, helps a blind young woman, Alienor, change the course of her life. All five of the women in the designs are based on women he has loved, despised, admired or bedded. The tapestries, he comes to realize, tell his life’s story…..The ladies are, indeed, seducing this unicorn. Through irony and deception, Nicholas’ actions are threaded together, by his ladies, to a conclusion that is unexpected and unfulfilling for Nicholas.
Today, the six authentic 15th century tapestries hang in Paris’ Museum of the Middle Ages. Although not much is known of the family who actually commissioned them, Chevalier brings history to life with timely characters, and colorful, sensual prose. The reader’s senses are heightened as the story is woven within the tapestries, each one capturing the lives of a painter, weaver, or nobleman and their families

Everyone was kind of an idiot in this one.

We have the stuck up nobleman who thinks he is all that.
We have the artist who thinks he is god's gift to women. Ugh, what an ass. I wanted to slap him.
The nobleman's stupid daughter, God, what an idiot.

Then we moved on to Brussels to see the tapestry being made. Ok, that family was better. The daughter was better, but still, oh girl.

I think the only sane person was the maid for the rich family. Sure she made mistakes too, but, I understood her.

But the book was good. Nice setting, even if I wish that stupid artist had not been it.