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Detail from Lady and the Unicorn tapestry.
This photo was taken in very, very low light without a flash, as obviously the museum does not allow any bright light in the room where these gorgeous tapestries are displayed.

From Wikipedia:


"This tapestry is wider than the others, and has a somewhat different style. The lady stands in front of a tent, across the top of which is written "A Mon Seul Desir", an obscure motto, variously interpretable as "my one/sole desire", "according to my desire alone"; "by my will alone", "love desires only beauty of soul", "to calm passion". Her maidservant stands to the right, holding open a chest. The lady is placing the necklace she wears in the other tapestries into the chest. To her left is a low bench with bags of coins on it. The unicorn and the lion stand in their normal spots framing the lady while holding onto the pennants.

This tapestry has elicited a number of interpretations. One interpretation sees the lady putting the necklace into the chest as a renunciation of the passions aroused by the other senses, and as an assertion of her free will. Another sees the tapestry as representing a sixth sense of understanding (derived from the sermons of Jean Gerson of the University of Paris, c. 1420). Various other interpretations see the tapestry as representing love or virginity. It is also debated whether the lady in "A Mon Seul Desir" is picking up or setting aside the necklace."





"The Musee de Cluny, officially known as Musee National du Moyen Age (National Museum of the Middle Ages), is a museum in Paris, France. It is located in the 5th arrondissement at 6 Place Paul Painleve, south of the Boulevard Saint-Germain, between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue Saint-Jacques.

The structure is perhaps the most outstanding example still extant of civic architecture in medieval Paris. It was formerly the town house (hotel) of the abbots of Cluny, started in 1334. The structure was rebuilt by Jacques d'Amboise, abbot in commendam of Cluny 1485-1510; it combines Gothic and Renaissance elements. In 1843 it was made into a public museum, to contain relics of France's Gothic past preserved in the building by Alexandre du Sommerard.

Though it no longer possesses anything originally connected with the abbey of Cluny, originally the hotel, was part of a larger Cluniac complex that also included a building (no longer standing) for a religious college in the Place de la Sorbonne (just south of the present day Hotel de Cluny along Boulevard Saint-Michel). Although originally intended for the use of the Cluny abbots, the residence was taken over by Jacques d'Amboise, Bishop of Clermont and Abbot of Jumieges, and rebuilt to its present form in the period of 1485-1500. Occupants of the house over the years have included Mary Tudor, who was installed here after the death of her husband Louis XII by his successor Francis I of France in 1515 so he could watch her more closely, particularly to see if she was pregnant. Seventeenth-century occupants included several papal nuncios including Mazarin.

In 1793 it was confiscated by the state, and for the next three decades served several functions. At one point it was owned by a physician who used the magnificent Flamboyant chapel on the first floor as a dissection room.

In 1833 Alexandre du Sommerard moved here and installed here his large collection of medieval and Renaissance objects. Upon his death in 1842 the collection was purchased by the state and opened in 1843, with his son as the museum's first curator. The present gardens, opened in 1971, include a "Foret de la Licorne" inspired by the tapestries.

The Hotel de Cluny is partially constructed on the remains of Gallo-Roman baths dating from the third century (known as the Thermes de Cluny ), which are famous in their own right and which may still be visited. In fact, the museum itself actually consists of two buildings: the frigidarium ("cooling room"), where the remains of the Thermes de Cluny are, and the Hotel de Cluny itself, which houses its impressive collections.


Among the principal holdings of the museum are the six La Dame a la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries, from the late fifteenth century, often considered one of the greatest works of art of the Middle Ages in Europe.

Other notable works stored there include early Medieval sculptures from the seventh and eighth centuries. There are also works of gold, ivory, antique furnishings, and illuminated manuscripts.

Second and I think last (for now) in the smoke pictures with stardust.. I really like the effect, it adds something extra to the picture.. This to me looks like a lady with some funny hat, a veil over her face and her arms either removed (yes, smoke creatures can just take off their arms for the evening if they feel like it) or they're behind her back..

What do you think?

for strobist: 1 off camera flash with a little box as a snoot from the side to illuminate the smoke and to make sure the background remains dark. Flash triggered with off-camera flash cord. afterwards image was mirrored in photoshop

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Femme fatales emerged from shadows
To watch this creature fair
Boys stood upon their chairs
To make their point of view
I smiled sadly for a love I could not obey
Lady stardust sang his songs
Of darkness and dismay

by David Bowie, 'Lady Stardust'
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Stardust, Lady Stardust spread your hair across your universe of magic, let us in.
Let's fly into the milky-way, climb these concrete walls and say don't ever close us in.
Like every city needs a distance,
every sky demands a moon,
every winter needs a snowfall,
every summer wants a June.
Money is just a piece of paper,
gold is blinding ^O don't you see.
Fame is just our own illusion, of what life is meant to be.
But I don't need a perfect mirror, I don't care for queens and kings.
We are free and we are perfect, when Lady Stardust sings

by Lisa Miskovsky, 'Lady Stardust'