— Argentine authorities recovered an 18th‑century portrait, Portrait of a Lady (Contessa Colleoni) by Giuseppe Ghislandi, this week after it was identified in an online real‑estate listing for a house in Mar del Plata. The work, taken by the Nazis from Dutch dealer Jacques Goudstikker during the second world war, was handed to the judiciary by Patricia Kadgien, daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien.
Key takeaways
- The painting was identified from a photo in a Mar del Plata property listing and reported by the Dutch paper AD on 25 August.
- Authorities say the portrait was looted from Jewish dealer Jacques Goudstikker and was last documented in 1946.
- Patricia Kadgien handed the work to the Argentinian judiciary; she and her husband were placed under house arrest and face charges of concealment and obstruction.
- Police seized weapons and phones during initial searches; subsequent raids found additional artworks now under forensic review.
- Goudstikker’s heirs intend to seek restitution for the recovered painting.
Verified facts
According to prosecutors in Mar del Plata, the Portrait of a Lady by Italian baroque portraitist Giuseppe Ghislandi was located after a reporter for the Dutch newspaper AD spotted an interior photo in an online real‑estate ad showing the painting above a sofa. AD published its investigation on 25 August, prompting further action by Argentine authorities.
Federal prosecutor Carlos Martínez ordered an initial raid on the Kadgien property the day after the AD story appeared; police reported the painting was not on the premises at that time. Officers did confiscate two unlicensed firearms and two mobile phones during that entry. A later set of searches uncovered the Ghislandi portrait, which Patricia Kadgien subsequently handed to the judiciary on Wednesday.
Prosecutors have accused Patricia Kadgien and her husband of attempting to conceal the artwork. A federal court in Mar del Plata placed the couple under 72‑hour house arrest; they face a hearing on charges of concealment and obstruction of justice. Their legal representatives declined to comment, according to reporting.
The recovered portrait is one of more than 1,000 works taken from Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch Jewish art dealer whose collection was looted by the Nazis. Goudstikker died in 1940 after falling in the hold of a ship as he tried to flee Europe; many pieces from his collection disappeared or changed hands in the chaotic postwar years.
Authorities say further items found in the recent raids include two paintings believed to date from the 19th century and a number of drawings and engravings. Forensic analysis and provenance research are underway to determine whether those works were also taken during the war.
Context & impact
The case echoes decades of efforts to trace and restitute art looted by the Nazis. After the fall of the Third Reich, numerous high‑ranking Nazi figures and collaborators fled to South America; prosecutors say Friedrich Kadgien left the Netherlands in 1946 and eventually settled in Argentina, where he died in Buenos Aires in 1978.
If provenance research confirms the Ghislandi portrait belonged to the Goudstikker estate, legal steps toward restitution to Goudstikker’s heirs are expected. Dutch heirs have previously recovered works from international collections through combined legal and diplomatic pressure.
Beyond the single object, the discovery highlights how contemporary digital records — in this case a property listing photograph — can help locate works that vanished in wartime. The case may spur renewed searches of private and public collections for other items with contested provenance.
Official statements
Authorities reported the painting was placed in judicial custody while experts verify its provenance and the circumstances of its movement to Argentina.
Argentine judiciary / federal prosecutors
Unconfirmed
- Exact route the Ghislandi portrait took from the Netherlands to Argentina remains under investigation.
- Whether the additional paintings and works seized were looted during the second world war is not yet determined.
- No public finding has been released on whether the Kadgien family knowingly concealed wartime provenance or how long the painting remained in their possession.
Bottom line
The recovery of the Ghislandi portrait underscores how routine online imagery can break cold cases of looted art and restart restitution processes more than eight decades after wartime thefts. For Goudstikker’s heirs, the discovery is an important step toward reclaiming part of a dispersed collection; for researchers and courts, it opens new inquiries into the route the painting followed and whether other items in private hands have disputed histories.