In earlier paintings, unicorns are usually intended to be real animals. They also have symbolic associations with chastity which lasted longer.
Davies
We journey on, through Thomas Cole’s classical city, to the Garden of Armida, briefly to Paradise, past the submerged city of Ys, ending up in a Surrealist vision of the Dorset coast.
Concludes a history of the unicorn in paint, from travellers’ tales and Paulus Potter, through Gustave Moreau into the early 20th century.
The Eclectic Light Company 