Restoration Carpenter Bill Bichell installs a band of egg-and-dart molding on the overdoor pediment in the Drawing Room at Montpelier using hide and stainless steel pins. Video by architectural historian Maggie Wilson.

Rare Florentine Pietre Dure Picture An important and monumental early 20th century framed Florentine pietre dure picture, attributed to Giovanni Montelatic. Pietre dure pictures combining the size, undisputed quality and excellent condition of the present example are extremely rare. Depicting an interior domestic scene of an elderly woman teaching her grandchild to read, five other adults looking on encouragingly, a wine bottle to the upper right corner inscribed Firenze, within a deep fluted, egg-and-dart and laurel-carved giltwood and gesso frame. The picture: 34 x 53 1/2 inches Overall 51 1/4 x 72 inches Although not visibly signed to either front or back, this magnificent and monumental pietre dure 'picture' is almost certainly the work of the celebrated Florentine artist Giovanni Montelatici (d 1930). The unrivalled and consummate skill with which the latter rendered painterly effects in hardstone is clearly evident in this charming domestic scene of an infant being taught to read by various family members. Furthermore, intricate details such as the stray straws of a rush-upholstered chair, a tobacco-filled scrap of paper or the floral-patterned print of a head-scarf, among others, demonstrate a heightened sense of realism rarely seen in the work of any other artists of the genre. Montelatici is often credited with revitalizing the skill of "painting" in pietre dure, an art which had fallen into a steady decline since the mid-19th century. In 1898, he went into business with Galileo Chini (d. 1957), an artist from Mugello, near Florence, and the two men exhibited jointly at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle, winning a gold medal for their large table inlaid with a scene of the Annunciation. Following the success in Paris, Montelatici established a large workshop, known as La Musiva, on the Via Arnolfo, appointing Chini as its artistic director. The business flourished during the early decades of the 20th century, when Montelatici was joined by his two sons, Mario and Alfonso, and when foreign buyers were plenty. Inspired by the paintings and subject-matter of the Tuscan Macchiaiolo School and Southern Italian artists, production encompassed a wide variety of themes, with particular emphasis on scenes of domesticity and rural life. Research has not yet been able to identify the exact source for the present composition; however, it seems plausible that its inspiration could be a work by the Tuscan artist Gaetano Chierici (d. 1920). A pupil of the Accademia di Firenze, Chierici's art embraced genre scenes characterized by a pictorial realism. Resulting from his faithful observance of scenes of domestic life, he became known for his depictions of peasants, children and animals, characters that promoted pure and simple family values. Important to Chierici was not just the attention to detail in the display of the symbols of daily life such as the furnishings, objects, costumes, children's toy, but the interaction between his characters and the resulting mood that is conveyed. This superlative work was formerly in the collection of Count Antonio Devoto and was likely either purchased by him at exhibition, or given its unusually large size, possibly commissioned directly from the artist's studio, which may explain the lack of any signature. Italian by birth, Devoto (d. 1916) is remembered as one of the most prominent members of the Italian community in Argentina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His immense wealth - he was one of the richest men in South America - was amassed through active participation in agricultural and financial markets, as well as his establishment and presidency of two banks, the Italian Bank and Bank of Rio de Janeiro. Devoto's philanthropic activities toward the Italian community earned him praise and the title of count from the King of Italy. As befitted such wealth, Devoto commissioned the building of 'Palacio Devoto' in Buenos Aires from the architect Juan Buschiazzo, and filled its sumptuous interior with furnishings and paneling by Francois Linke.

I make this video is for my Yahoo! 360 Blog, My favourite music, My music world ... A tribute to Eagles ... This music video will be posted on 10/03/2008 in my blog ... Eagles Official Website http://www.eaglesband.com Artist: Eagles Album: Long Road Out Of Eden 2007 Song: Waiting In The Weeds It's comin' on the end of August Another summer's promise almost gone And though I heard some wise man say That every dog will have his day He never mentioned that these dog days get so long I don't know when I realized the dream was over Well, there was no particular hour, no given day You know, it didn't go down in flame There was no final scene, no frozen frame I just watched it slowly fade away And I've been waiting in the weeds Waiting for my time to come around again and Hope is floating on the breeze Carrying my soul high up above the ground and I've been keepin' to myself Knowin' that the seasons are slowly changing you And though you're with somebody else He'll never love you like I do I've been biding time with the crows and sparrows While peacocks prance and strut upon the stage If finding love is just a dance Proximity and chance You will excuse me if I skip the masquerade And I've been waiting in the weeds Waiting for the dust to settle down along the Back roads running through the fields Lying on the outskirts of this lonesome town And I imagine sunlight in your hair You're at the county fair You're holding hands and laughing And now the Ferris wheel has stopped You're swinging on the top Suspended there with him And he's the darling of the chic The flavor of the week is melting Down your pretty summer dress Baby, what a mess you're making I've been stumbling through some dark places Now I'm following the plow I know I've fallen out of your good graces It's alright now And I've been waiting in the weeds Waiting for the summer rain to fall upon the Wild birds scattering the seeds Answering the calling of the tide's eternal tune The phases of the moon The chambers of the heart The egg and dart A small gray spider spinning in the dark In spite of all the times the web is torn apart And I've been waiting in the weeds Waiting for the time to come around again and Hope is floating on the breeze Carrying my soul high up above the ground and I've been keepin` to myself Knowing that the seasons are slowly changing you And though you're with somebody else He'll never love you like I do * The Eagles The Eagles are an American rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. With five Number 1 singles and six Number 1 albums, the Eagles were among the most successful recording artists of the 1970s. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971--1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the ten best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the 37th album in the Rolling Stone list "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time", and the band was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[1] They are also the best-selling American group ever, with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971--1975 being the best-selling album in the U.S. to date.[2][3] The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They have toured intermittently since then, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden -- their first full studio album in 28 years. *