Photo submitted to Third Rail Politics

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A piece of art depicting former Ohio House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger hanging out with former GOP presidents created a buzz on social media this week.

And now we know where it came from.

Missouri artist Andy Thomas painted the original "Grand Ol' Gang" featuring Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and five other former presidents laughing and playing cards.

But an altered version of the work -- with Rosenberger's likeness standing behind Teddy Roosevelt and laughing -- showed up in an inventory of items from Rosenberger's office listed in a search warrant executed as part of a federal investigation into the former speaker.

Cleveland.com traced the artwork to a gallery at the Dayton Mall.

Thomas' wife, Dina, told cleveland.com that Andy did not consent to the version that included Rosenberger, sporting a brown jacket featuring the seal of Ohio. She added that each of Andy's images is registered with the Library of Congress and has an official U.S. copyright.

Andy declined an interview through his wife, and Dina said they don't plan to take legal action against Rosenberger or anyone else for the picture.

A House GOP spokeswoman referred all questions about the image to Rosenberger, a Republican from Clarksville.

Rosenberger's attorney David Axelrod, reached by phone Tuesday, said he did not know about the painting until reading news reports on Monday. He declined to comment on the matter of copyright and said the issue is ancillary to representing his client in a federal investigation.

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Rosenberger, the collector

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This past Christmas, I had a lot of fun presenting bobbleheads to my leadership team! #NationalBobbleheadDay Posted by Cliff Rosenberger on Thursday, January 7, 2016

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The image was framed and hung in the lobby outside Rosenberger's office until after he resigned in April because of an FBI investigation into his international travel with lobbyists. A photo of the picture was submitted anonymously to the political blog Third Rail Politics in April.

"CAR GOP Poker" was among hundreds of items listed on a 53-page inventory of belongings packed up from Rosenberger's office, a conference room, closet and other state office areas in the Riffe Center in Columbus. Among those belongings: boxes of books, coins, political and historical memorabilia and bobbleheads of presidents and Rosenberger staffers.

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The original

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Painting by Andy Thomas, used with permission

Grand Ol' Gang

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Andy's paintings include portraits of former presidents and historical scenes including Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago. He frequently gets requests to paint in someone's father or loved one, Dina said, and he declines them all, in part because painting over a print doesn't look good.

Parody versions of Thomas' work emerge every once in a while, but those tend to fall under the law's "fair use" defense. A few years ago, someone added Sarah Palin to a GOP presidents picture. Unlike that edit, Dina said, the Rosenberger addition was done "pretty well."

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Trail leads to the Dayton Mall

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Photo submitted to Third Rail Politics

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Inlight Studios owner Mher Harutunian confirmed he made the Rosenberger print. He said the former speaker's coworkers requested his addition to the presidents' painting about three years ago.

Harutunian said he has added people to the presidents' paintings only a couple of times but does not do it anymore because he does not own the rights to the artwork. Harutunian freehand draws and paints custom portraits. And he will add people into artworks he has created or family photos submitted by the customer for a fee: $20 for the first person and $5 for each additional person.

"People love it," he said.

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New parodies

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MAKE IT RAIN pic.twitter.com/KqmPp6jTG0 — Sean has a fever & the only Rx is more rumpledness (@SeanForgotAgain) August 28, 2018

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The picture of Rosenberger, republished Monday by the Dayton Daily News, has already attracted new parodies. One parody includes Bill Lager, founder of ECOT, a now-closed online charter school found to have inflated enrollment numbers tied to state funding. Lager is tucked in between Rosenberger and Dwight Eisenhower, throwing money on the table.

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'No ill will'

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The unaltered GOP presidents' poker game is available for purchase on mugs, playing cards and in prints ranging from $59 to $1,500. Thomas' political series includes Republican presidents playing pool or meeting over a drink and Democratic presidents in the same scenes. He painted an updated version of "The Republican Club" to include President Donald Trump.

Dina surmised Rosenberger was given the picture as a gift and no ill will was intended.

"The world is a harsh place right now, and there are still a lot of gentle, kind people who would get something and say 'I thought you'd like this,'" Dina Thomas said.