Pure of Heart

The figure of a young woman, pensively waiting is the dominant image in this painting, taking up almost the whole of the left side. She is outlined with a broad white stroke, defining her edges and pinning her inside, even her gaze does not seem to break the border. Outside of her edged off space is a fanciful world: a maid in green sits under a doughnut tree, feeding the unicorn by her side. Unicorns in art history have rather different meanings than they do today. Contemporary mythology holds that unicorns are magical and can only be approached by a virgin, they have become the symbol of girlhood and are placed on all manor of consumables marketed at girls. In the medieval period the unicorn was used in symbol to represent Christ, and only the pure of heart could see. One famous way the unicorn was depicted was with a young woman (pure of heart) who would hold a mirror, reflecting the beauty and Glory of the Unicorn (Christ) back at himself. In this version, the girl does not hold a mirror  and instead attempts to feed the unicorn doughnuts that have fallen from the tree that references the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was at the heart of the Garden of Eden.