An Argentine court has ordered the return of a centuries-old painting stolen by Nazi officials nearly 80 years ago, after the work resurfaced in a photograph accompanying a real estate listing in the coastal city of Mar del Plata.
The painting, "Portrait of a Lady," was taken in 1945 from a Jewish-owned art gallery in Amsterdam. It was long believed to be the work of Giuseppe Ghislandi, but a court-ordered examination found it is more likely the work of Giacomo Ceruti.
The painting was discovered last summer hanging above a green couch in a photograph taken inside the home of Patricia Kadgien, whose father, Friedrich Kadgien, was a high-ranking Nazi official who oversaw the theft of Jewish-owned artworks in countries occupied by Germany. Journalists at the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, including Peter Schouten, led the investigation that identified the painting in the listing photo.
Argentine police later raided the villa where the painting had been photographed, but by the time officers arrived, both the artwork and its image in the online listing had been removed. Police seized cell phones and unregistered firearms from the property during the raid.
An unnamed source said Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were charged with concealment. According to the available account, the criminal case against the couple was ultimately suspended as part of an agreement under which the painting would be returned and roughly $3,200 donated to local hospitals.
The painting was one of more than 1,100 works that had belonged to the private collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch art dealer whose holdings were plundered by the Nazis after he fled the Netherlands following Germany's 1940 invasion. More than 200 pieces from Goudstikker's collection have since been located and returned to his family, while hundreds more are believed to remain scattered around the world. Argentina became a refuge for Nazi party members and looted property after World War II.
Juan Ignacio Pascual, a lawyer representing the painting's heirs, said the ruling marks the first time Argentina's justice system has recovered and restituted a painting looted by the Nazis during World War II. Marei von Saher, Goudstikker's daughter-in-law and the painting's official heir, said she is thrilled with the court's decision to restitute the artwork.