John McEnroe (Getty Images)
Tennis great John McEnroe is the rightful owner of a $2 million abstract painting whose provenance was muddled by the involvement of a convicted art dealer, a Manhattan civil court judge has decided.
McEnroe had bought a pair of paintings by artist Arshile Gorky titled “Pirate I” and “Pirate II” with shady gallery giant Lawrence Salander in 2004.
Salander had kept the works together in his Upper East Side gallery.
Then two years later Salander, who was sentenced to six years in the clink for grand larceny in 2010, traded “Pirate II” to another art dealer named Joseph Carroll.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich ruled on Aug. 20 that Carroll must return the work.
“Carroll acquired Pirate II in a grossly undervalued transaction in which he chose to make no inquiry as to Salander’s authority to sell the work,” Kornreich wrote in her decision.
McEnroe’s attorney Arthur Goldstein said his client was “ecstatic.”
Carroll’s attorney did not immediately respond to calls for comment.