Rembrandt, 'Portrait of a man with arms akimbo.' From Christie's.

Last week, the Rembrandt painting Portrait of a man with arms akimbo went for $33.2 million dollars at a Christie’s auction. The painting was sold to Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn, who had an anonymous bidder call in by telephone to make the purchase.

I wonder if Rembrandt ever could have fathomed that his paintings would bounce around from collector to collector for centuries, be owned by the wealthiest of the wealthy, and end up residing in a city created for gambling that didn’t even exist. The enduring power of art sure subjects it to some odd twists of fate.