Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 9763
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Ketskemety , Esther.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: The Court, the Forest, and the Symbolism of the "chasse" in "The Bear Hunt," a Late Fifteenth Century Burgundian Tapestry Design
  • Source: Gender and Conflict in the Middle Ages. Gender and Medieval Studies Conference, York, January 5-7 2001.. 2001.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Conference Paper Abstract
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Decorative Arts Gender in Art Hunting in Art Tapestries Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Low Countries
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence:
  • Illustrations:
  • Table:
  • Abstract: My paper will focus on a Flemish design for a tapestry c.1470(?), depicting the last stage of a bear hunt, and believed to be the work of Frank van der Beecke. Those taking part in the hunt are most probably meant to represent members of the Burgundian court, and include several female figures (two of whom may be Mary of Burgundy and Margaret of York). I will focus on the apparent 'conflict' between court and forest, beast and man, and the construction of this scene as a courtly artifice in which 'appropriate' gender roles are represented. If there is time/space, my argument will also consider the function of such tapestries at the Burgundian court, within the above context. [Reprinted by permission of Gender and Medieval Studies Conference organizers].
  • Related Resources:
  • Author's Affiliation: University of York
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2001.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: Not Available