Evening star., 1961-03-05
By RICHARD HIRSCH
Director, Allentown Art Museum

Director, Allentown Art Museum
Hamlet's Elsinore Castle
had not been built for COM
fort. Its walls were stone,
naked inside and out, pierced
with open apertures through
which ragged the blasts of a
North Sea winter. No glass
made these openings what
we call windows-and this
was a kingly palace.
The queen. seeking some
small comfort. seeks to cut
down on the gale-like drafts.
Hence, in her castle chamber.
which Shakespeare calls her
closet" those h ian ngings
named "Arras." AS caves
dropping Polonius betrays his
presence behind the queens
tapestries, young Hamlet
lunges blindly at the hang
ings. Polonius, pierced by
Hamlet'S sword, dies be-
tween the "Arras" and the
wall.
This is a familiar, a famous
scene.
Frequently, 1t is misunder-
stood. We think of a tapes
try, On ArraS. as a wall hang
ing, quite obviously against
the wall. But this will only
happen in the palaces Of
later centuries succeeding
those earlier stone castles. In
the 17th century, for example.
tapestries will, In actual fact,
become wall hangings. hung
directly against the wall, as
the curtains hung against
the new wide windows, rich
with new-fangled glass cut
into window panes.
For Warmth
But not in ElSinore Castle,
nor In hundreds Of other
castles less famous but equal
ly in need Of the bareSt crea-
ture comforts. Here the
tapestry was hung well away,
ls inches or more, from the
clam ~ wall, down to the
drafty, icy, floor, providing
some slight cushion Of air for
the unhappy mobiles shivering
behind their draw-bridges, in
crenellated grandeur.
1t was in this air space that
PoloniuS went to his reward.
He had not, as many readers
think, attempted to get be-
hind an Arras closely hugging
the wall Of the Queens closet.
After all, he was no fool even
If his political maxims suffer
from the folly Of the poll
tician.
Expensive Practically
The medieval tapestry was,
thus, an expensive practical
ity, the product of a great
craft reproducing the designs
not Of painters, as will happen
only later, but of the design
ers Of stained glass. In times
when painting was found
only in the miniatures o1
precious manuscripts or
parchment or on small wood
panels. monumental design
could be hoped for only from
those accustomed to the
towering dimensions Of the
windows in great cathedrals
1t is from these hands that
came the designs, the car
toons," which the tapestry
weaverS Of ArraS or Tourna!
or Brussels interpreted freely
in wool, silk and sometimes
In gold and silver yarn. Be-
cause of this freedom, the
medieval tapestry has come
down to us with only infre-
quent fading or, where fad
ing has taken place, a uni
form degree Of it from corner
to corner, leaving the general
decorative harmonies intact
This happy stability could
only last as long as the dyer
and the weaver controlled
their craft. But. shortly. the
the painter and the deco
rator will take over. Raphael
was preparing a catastrophe
A poorly inspired Pope
asked Raphael. around 1915
to design q series of cartoons
for q set of tapestries to be
called 1.-THE Acts Of the
Apostles" These designs
painted as II they were great
frescoes or unusually large
easel paintings, were sent
off to the tapestry weaver'
of Brussels on squares oi
paper which could be assem-
bled according to their num-
bered keys. The weavers wert
I Snefrt1nfad IN havn their dv.