This image (from a late fifteenth century tapestry made in Flanders) does not specifically depict Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster, but the lady in the center does bear many of the features attributed to Blanche's poetic counterpart "goode faire White" in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess (949). Note the extremely fair complexion ("a [fair] nekke...whit, smothe, streighte...a round tour of yvoyre," 942-6) and the luscious spring atmosphere.

The tapestry pictured here is part of the "Lady and the Unicorn" series in the Cluny Museum of the Middle Ages (Paris). This tapestry is commonly believed to represent the sense of taste.




This engraving (by W. Dugdale, 1716) depicts the tomb Blanche shares with her husband John of Gaunt. In 1374 (five years after Blanche's death), John ordered that alabaster effigies be made of himself and his late wife. Twenty-five years later, he and Blanche were buried side by side in St. Paul's Cathedral (London).