When the MAK in Vienna opened its new Carpet and Textile Galleries on 25 March, many major carpets and textiles went on display. Yet this German tapestry fragment, labelled “Banquet of the Wild Men and Storming of the Castle of Love”, deserved more attention.
Wild men besiege a Castle of Love tapestry fragment, Strasbourg, c. 1420. Tapestry weave, linen warp, wool weft, partly embroidered with silk and linen, MAK, T 2461
© MAK/Georg MayerI have always been drawn to Wild Man imagery: a figure of chaos and untamed nature who, to modern eyes, can look like an outsider, even a medieval hippy. Here, wild men and love imagery form a lively allegory of courtly love, virtue and primal desire.
The drawing is playful and vivid: fish swim in the stream, dogs beg at the table, and flowers become spears and arrows. The narrative has two contrasting halves. On the left, inside an ornate tent, the Queen of Love has civilised the wild men, who dine peacefully with her, suggesting that true love refines base nature. On the right, wild men abandon reason, ride beasts and hybrids symbolising pride, lust and deceit, and attack the Castle of Love, a fortress of female virtue against crude advances. Yet they wear costumes and crowns rather than hair, implying courtiers playing the role—or being mocked as unvirtuous.
