When Marco Polo visited Sumatra in around 1290, he declared that he had seen ‘a great number of unicorns’, describing them as being ‘hardly smaller than elephants in size’, with a ‘head like that of a wild boar’ and featuring a ‘very large black horn’. He was seemingly disgusted by their presence and went on to write in his famous travelogue: ‘It is a hideous beast to look at, and in no way like what we think and say in our countries, namely a beast that lets itself be taken in the lap of a virgin. Indeed, it is quite the opposite of what we say it is.’
This rather comical misidentification of the Sumatran rhinoceros demonstrates the indelible image of the unicorn throughout European culture. Marco, like so many of his compatriots, would have envisioned a white horse with a flowing mane and a long, delicate spiralled horn, with long-held associations of Christian virtue, purity, fidelity and romantic love.
The earliest references to unicorns can be found in ancient texts including the writings of Pliny the Elder, who described them as brave and ferocious, and their inclusion in bestiaries, compendia that combine images of both real and imagined creatures as allegories for Christian teaching. Likewise, the creatures are featured in texts such as Bernhard von Breydenbach’s 1486 Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam (widely regarded as the oldest illustrated travel guide in existence), which places a unicorn alongside a camel, a dragon-like crocodile and a rather celestial salamander. Among such a cohort, a horse with a pronounced horn hardly seems fanciful.
Associations with virtuous female beauty were well established by the Renaissance, particularly the notion that this mythical equine could only be tamed by a virgin. Prime examples include Domenichino’s fresco at the Galleria Farnese, which shows both woman and beast in a loving embrace, and Raphael’s painting of a young woman holding a rather diminutive unicorn in her arms. It is believed to depict Maddalena Doni on the occasion of her marriage, with underpainting showing that she was originally depicted holding a dog; both companions hold associations of chastity and marital fidelity.
The unicorn has also held a special place within the history of textile art, not least in the epic woven Unicorn Tapestries on display at the Met Cloisters. These seven individual hangings render the beast and its surroundings in luxurious silk, wool and gilded threads. In epic hunting scenes the unicorn battles against hounds and spears, before being murdered and carried off by its pursuers in what is an evident parable for Christ’s crucifixion. The narrative includes another taming by a maiden, and the final mysterious image presents the resurrected creature safe and content within a fenced enclosure, which has been interpreted as a symbol of marital love and obedience.
The same exceptional millefleurs is found in another mysterious depiction woven in Flanders in the 16th century. The six-part Lady and the Unicorn series features a regal woman flanked by a lion and a unicorn, each tapestry an evocative ode to one of the five senses, with the meaning of the sixth still obscure. Once again, the compositions all strike a delicate balance between feminine allure and devoted chastity.
While these rather formal images entrench unicorns in the symbolic canon of allegorical art, the creatures have also found their way into more esoteric practices. The quest to possess a unicorn’s horn, for example, led to a trade in narwhal tusks for use in a collector’s cabinet of curiosities or else in dubious medicinal potions. The idea of this rare and fantastical creature somehow existing beyond the realm of human corruption has also seen contemporary artists, writers and film-makers alike return to the motif.
In Ridley Scott’s dark fantasy Legend (1985), for example, a young Tom Cruise is tasked with protecting the last pair of unicorns in existence from the bloodthirsty intentions of Tim Curry’s deliciously camp Lord of Darkness. If both beasts are executed, the world will be plunged into eternal winter. Damien Hirst, too, gilded both the formaldehyde tank and false horn worn by a taxidermy pony in The Child’s Dream (2008), which one might call a rather cynical take on the realm of childlike imagination. Associations between modern and historical visions are also being explored in an ongoing exhibition at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam, where a gloriously maned 16th-century depiction by Maerten de Vos meets recent photographs staged by Marie Cécile Thijs, using champion stallions.
The term ‘unicorn’ has also entered modern-day lexicon as a something of an impossible, unattainable standard. It has even found a special place within the world of dating, with unicorn emojis appearing in dating apps for those on the hunt for less orthodox companions. The relationship to queer culture, too, can be seen in films such as James Krishna Floyd and Sally El Hosaini’s Unicorns (2023). This British love story transcends gender and cultural identity, celebrating those that exist beyond the confines of societal norms. It is a subversive take on the long-standing image of an untameable, fictitious loveliness – one that stretches far beyond purely aesthetic ideals and celebrates the beauty within.
‘Unicorn: The Mythical Beast in Art’ runs until 1 February 2026 at the Museum Barberini, Potsdam. For more information, visit museum-barberini.de
