Italy Named Owner of ‘Gardener’

A court ruled Thursday that the Italian government has ownership rights to Van Gogh’s masterpiece “The Gardener,” thus preventing its sale to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Under the ruling by the administrative court of the province of Lazio, the 1889 oil painting valued at $8.5 million will remain at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome.

The ownership dispute dates to 1977 when Ernst Beyeler, an art collector from Basel, Switzerland, bought the painting for 600 million lire--about $1 million then--from an Italian nobleman.

The painting remained in Italian museums, and Beyeler tried to sell it last year to the Guggenheim Collection, one of the most renowned modern art galleries in Europe. The sale price was $8.5 million.

The Italian Culture Ministry, however, blocked the sale. It charged Beyeler’s 1977 purchase of the painting was illegal, saying it was bought in another person’s name. The ministry said that Beyeler was not the legal owner and that the government had rights to the painting.

Beyeler took the case to court, which ruled against him Thursday. The court will announce the reasons for its ruling later.

Guggenheim officials were not involved in the court case.