World famous sculptor Mario Ceroli on Thursday night ended a protest in Siena after spending two days chained to one of his sculptures that is currently at the centre of an ownership dispute.
The 6-metre-high bronze horse, entitled Run, Run, Old John, was returned to Ceroli after a day of legal wrangling with a company from nearby Pistoia, which claims to own 50% of the work.
The horse had been on show in a central square of the Tuscan city as part of an open-air exhibition of the artist's work.
Ceroli launched the protest after learning that organisers intended to return the sculpture to the Pistoia company at the end of the show.
The company said it had a written agreement with Ceroli from 2006 giving it equal rights to ownership of the work, which had been in its possession since its completion the same year.
Following the return of the horse to Ceroli, the company added that it would ''act without delay to safeguard our rights to the work''.
