A late-baroque painting stolen during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands has been ordered returned following a court decision in Argentina. The artwork, titled Portrait of a Lady, vanished for approximately 80 years before being identified in photographs of a residential property listed for sale in the Mar del Plata area.
The painting was among more than 1,000 artworks taken from the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer, after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. The work remained missing until it was spotted hanging in a living room by staff at a Dutch newspaper reviewing property listings last August. The home belonged to Patricia Kadgien, whose father Friedrich Kadgien had served as a senior aide to Hermann Goring, Hitler’s deputy, and fled to Argentina following World War II.
Following the discovery, Patricia Kadgien and her husband were charged with concealment and placed under house arrest. At a court hearing in Mar del Plata on Friday, all criminal charges against the couple were suspended under an agreement reached between the families and prosecutors. Under the settlement, the couple will relinquish all rights to the artwork and donate 4.8 million pesos to local hospitals as compensation.
Marei von Saher, the daughter-in-law and sole heir of the original owner, plans to have the painting temporarily displayed at the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to raise awareness about Nazi art looting. Von Saher has previously stated her family remains committed to recovering every artwork stolen from Goudstikker’s collection.
The painting is attributed to Giuseppe Ghislandi, a late-baroque artist, though some art scholars have questioned its provenance and attributed it to Giacomo Ceruti, another Italian artist from the same period.
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