The Daily Beast has a good story explaining the gamble Steve Wynn took bidding on Rembrandt’s Man with Arms Akimbo that benefited from Barbara Johnson’s unwillingness to have the picture loaned out to prospective buyers:

“Steve got a great deal, no doubt about it, and the reason he did is largely due to me,” said Otto Naumann, one of New York’s foremost dealers. “I made a mistake not bidding on that painting, plain and simple.” […] “I looked at the painting for hours, trying to imagine how the face would look after cleaning,” Naumann said. “It seemed so flat and dull and lacking any color. Under magnification, I could see only a bit of pink near the edges of cracks. I never imagined that a thin veil of pink glaze existed over the entire passage, then hidden by a yellow varnish.” Continue Reading