I bought a painting from an art gallery who owns the copyright of the image?

Question

Let's say I bought an original oil painting from an art gallery who owns the copyright. The artist would like to publish a book with using the image on the cover. Do I or the artist own the copyright?

Answer 1

The artist retains the copyright. You own the physical painting but the image is the artist's. The gallery owner has no rights to either. The artist should have made a photo of the image to document ownership of the copyright but there is probably a contract with the gallery owner where the painting was named so that would be all the artist would need to confirm copyright.