Degrees of ownership exist at many levels within the world of paintings. Under normal circumstances, the painter owns the original copyright to his work. However, if the work was commissioned the entity which commissioned the work may own the original copyright.
When legal reproductions are made of a work the entity producing the reproduction then owns the copyright for the aforementioned reproductions, but may not necessarily own the exclusive copyright for reproductions. That is the original copyright owner may then license or sell copyrights to other groups. This sort of process is in effect at in level of reproduction; as when an image is digitized and then released on a CD-ROM.
In effect, whenever there is a new means of distribution for a work another layer of copyrights is created and must be accounted for.