The Training of a Falcon

In medieval courtly arts, as this tapestry illustrates, it was fashionable to combine romance scenes with images of falconry. The repeated inscription, “a mué,” French for “moulted,” references a literary trope likening a bride’s unpredictability to a falcon shedding its first feathers. The tapestry pairs this popular allegory with two coats of arms identifying the young couple as members of the French House of Beaufort-Canillac. Made by the renowned weavers of the Southern Netherlands, this lavish example of textile art hung in a castle, where it likely commemorated a marriage.