Hortus Conclusus

This ceramic wall frieze by the Dutch artist Carolein Smit presents a ‘Hortus Conclusus’, an enclosed garden popular in medieval culture as a place of retreat and innocence, symbolically related to the Garden of Eden. A virgin and a unicorn meet under a tree beneath the moon and the stars, all imagery closely associated with romance in the medieval era. However, in Carolein’s scene the figures are skeletal as an echo of another medieval artistic tradition: the Danse Macabre. This depicted figures from across society coming together in a dance towards death, in recognition that no matter social status or riches we all share the same ultimate destiny. The garden is enclosed by decorative Rococo mouldings of organic matter such as leaves and flowers, accompanied by stylised skulls that act as memento mori – reminders of mortality and the ephemeral nature of life. The moon here presides over the coming together of these contradictions: innocence and beauty meeting the macabre.