Today in the Art World...

Commercial galleries providing financial support for museum exhibitions. Kosher or not?

A short history of Rembrandt's Portrait of a Girl Wearing a Gold-Trimmed Cloak:
1929 — Robert Treat Paine II buys painting for $125,000
1975 — Painting stolen from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston where it was on loan
1976 — Painting recovered by police in the parking lot of a Boston restaurant
1986 — Anonymous New York collector buys painting at auction for $10.3 million
November 20, 2007 — Painting goes on view at the Getty in Los Angeles

The New York Times' Carol Vogel identifies the buyers (or rumored buyers) of some of the top lots sold at the contemporary auctions in New York last week.

The Smithsonian is spinning off a home furniture collection inspired by pieces in its museums. Royalites gleaned from sales are expected to help fund the $2.5 billion worth of maintenance it needs to do.

A list of the artists selected to participate in the 2008 Whitney Biennial, which goes up in March.