ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Casino Prize: In May, when a Sotheby’s auction set records for five artists, casino mogul Steve Wynn had to settle for second prize: Georges Seurat’s “Landscape, Island of the Grande Jatte,” which he bought for $35.2 million to display at his Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. But the highest-ticket item from the sale of the esteemed Whitney collection--a still life of fruit by Paul Cezanne--seemed to have escaped him, going for $60.5 million to the proverbial “anonymous bidder.” On Tuesday, however, Wynn sent his private jet to New York to pick up the record-breaking 1893-94 painting, and hours later it too was hanging in the recently expanded Bellagio gallery. “I bought the Cezanne privately for an undisclosed price,” the exuberant Wynn said, adding: “I don’t ever intend to reveal the name of the seller.”

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Opera Payments: Placido Domingo has been dropped from a German tax evasion probe after agreeing to pay an undisclosed sum. Prosecutors would not reveal the amount Wednesday or say whether it went to state coffers or charity. Fellow tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras--who were also named as suspects in November in a tax evasion investigation of German concert promoter Matthias Hoffman--remain under investigation, prosecutors said. Meanwhile, prosecutors dropped a related case against soprano Montserrat Caballe last month after she agreed to a $53,000 payment.

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Princely Contract: The Artist (formerly known as Prince)--who once compared major record label policies to slavery--has ended his boycott of the mainstream music industry by signing with Arista Records to release “Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic,” an album expected in early November. The maverick singer had in recent years been releasing his music over the Internet and dealing directly with retailers after a bitter feud with his former label, Warner Bros. Records, and brief dealings with EMI Music. Warner Bros. this week released “The Vault . . . Old Friends 4 Sale,” featuring his unreleased, older songs.

QUICK TAKES

The 24th Toronto International Film Festival, running from Sept. 9 through 18, will feature 319 films from 52 countries, including 171 world and North American premieres. Featured films include “Onegin,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Liv Tyler; Woody Allen’s “Sweet and Lowdown,” starring Uma Thurman and Sean Penn; “The Cider House Rules,” with Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire; and the animated “Princess Mononoke,” with voices by Billy Crudup, Claire Danes and Gillian Anderson. . . . The Backstreet Boys are still No. 1 on the nation’s album charts with their sophomore album, “Millennium,” a position they’ve held for nine of the past 12 weeks. New releases from R&B; singer Mary J. Blige and rappers Mobb Deep debut at No. 2 and 3, respectively, on SoundScan’s latest album sales tally.