Art: Peripatetic Patio

At the dawn of the Spanish Renaissance, an elaborately carved and colonnaded patio was the pet and pride of Don Pedro Fajardo, first Marquis of Vélez and fifth governor of the Kingdom of Murcia. At the turn of the 20th century, the patio became the proud possession of Financial Baron George Blumenthal, onetime president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When his Park Avenue mansion was razed in 1945, the 2,000 numbered marble blocks of the patio were tucked away in the Met's attic. Last week its pearly facades were dedicated as part of the museum's vast expansion.

When such finishing touches...

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