Word: simone
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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REFUSED FOR LEONARDO, LIECHTENSTEIN TURNS DOWN OFFER FROM NORTON SIMON...
...Forfeit. There was no denying that California Art Collector Simon was interested. Last summer Los Angeles County Museum Director Richard F. Brown, who has counseled Simon in many of his purchases, went to Liechtenstein to examine the prince's Leonardo in the sunlight of the palace courtyard. Simon is no collector to buy a pig in a poke. Before bidding $2,234,400 for Rembrandt's Titus last March, he had the painting gone over by experts; in fact, earlier, when Titus was still privately owned, he refused to buy it because his advisers were not permitted...
With the Ginevra, Simon had even more reason for caution. Of the world's dozen Da Vinci experts, there are still two or three who question whether it is certainly by Leonardo's hand. Then, especially in the lower portion, it is in less than the pristine condition of the Mona Lisa. So when the prince's agents approached the meticulous millionaire with an offer to sell it for $7,000,000, he insisted that the price be reduced to $6,000,000 and that he have the right to take it to experts outside Liechtenstein...
Next, $10 Million? At $3,861 per sq. in., Simon was simply playing caveat emptor according to the rules. The prince, currently hard pressed for cash following several unsuccessful business ventures, agreed-but he was in no mood to let his treasure cross his principality's boundaries or risk an adverse verdict. When negotiations broke down, the prince's art dealer, Josef Farago, issued a categorical denial: "The prince would not dream of selling the Leonardo." As for the prince, he was, as one to the manner born, off hunting in Austria. Does this mean that Ginevra...
Picasso & Pop. The museum was a triumph of individualistic donations. Its pavilions were named for their donors, the late realtor Leo S. Bing, Bankers Bart Lytton and Howard Ahmanson, who laid out a total of $3,675,000. Industrialist Norton Simon gave a $250,000 wad as well as a loan of $15 million in art treasures. From the movie colony (Billy Wilder, Bob Hope and Burt Lancaster) came a flood of art from Picasso to pop. Capping it all was Simon's loan of the $2,234,400 Titus by Rembrandt. To keep the floodgates open, the trustees...