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Wynn Buys Rembrandt Self-Portrait

Steve Wynn's added a Rembrandt self-portrait to his art collection, and the Strip developer is happy about the $11.3 million purchase.

The 1634 painting depicts the Dutch master at age 28, and joins a self-portrait of Cézanne's Wynn bought in May for $17.3 million. Wynn also bought Renoir's "In the Roses (Madame Leon Clapisson)" for $23.5 million in May.

Wynn purchased the painting at about 2 a.m. Thursday, bidding against two others via speakerphone at a London auction.

The 17th-century Rembrandt doesn't fit with the rest of Wynn's collection, he admitted.

"It's very inconsistent with the period I collect," he said, noting that most of his collection is from the late 19th century and early 20th century. "I bought it because it's Rembrandt. We had the painting here (at the Wynn Collection) about 1 1/2 months ago. It's a life-size painting, so you can look into (Rembrandt's) eyes. I thought it be wonderful for Las Vegas, but I bought it for myself."

Wynn said he's ordering a Dutch ebony frame for the Rembrandt masterpiece, and placing it next to Picasso's "Le Reve" in the Wynn Collection gallery.

The painting is expected to arrive in Las Vegas in about one week. Wynn guessed that the painting would be on display in about two weeks.

The Wynn Collection will be moved to a new gallery in the retail section of Wynn Las Vegas when the $2 billion megaresort opens in 2005.

The Rembrandt self-portrait set a record auction price for a self-study by the Dutch master, Sotheby's said. The work had been largely overpainted by a Rembrandt pupil and was only recently cleaned and revealed to be the great artist's self-portrait, a Sotheby's spokeswoman said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

She added it was "100 percent certain" that the price Wynn paid was a record for a Rembrandt self-portrait sold at auction, though she could not give a figure for the previous highest price. Other Rembrandt paintings have recently sold for more than $30 million.

The work auctioned Thursday is one of about 40 surviving self-portraits painted by Rembrandt, although there are some 40 others that are etched or drawn, Sotheby's said.

It was likely painted over in Rembrandt's studio less than five years after the artist completed the work. The altered painting depicted a Russian nobleman in a tall Russian hat, with long hair, a mustache, a goatee beard, a fur cape and gold chains, and the original self-portrait remained hidden for 365 years.

It was identified as a Rembrandt self-study only after the Rembrandt Research Project, a group of scholars whose task is to authenticate the hundreds of paintings by the 17th-century master, began investigating the piece in 1995 at the request of its owner. Sotheby's said the owner was a descendant of Paul Page, a French art collector and dealer, but did not give further details.

Although the portrait clearly resembled Rembrandt and bore his signature, the researchers at first felt it could not be genuine because it lacked the master's finesse. It took them six years to remove the layers of added paint.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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