Nazi-Looted Painting Disappears After It Was Spotted in a Real Estate Ad

An international investigation is underway after a 17th-century painting stolen by the Nazis vanished following its recent discovery. The artwork, a portrait by Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi, was found hanging in the Argentine coastal home of the daughter of Friedrich Kadgien, a high-ranking Nazi war criminal who served as Herman Göring’s financial adviser. The painting, titled Portrait of a Lady, has been on the international lost art registry and a specific list of artworks looted from Dutch Jews during World War II.

The discovery was made when the home was listed for sale online with photographs showing the painting above a sofa. After an alert from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), a Dutch newspaper, AD, confirmed its authenticity. However, the painting disappeared shortly after the article was published, leading to an investigation involving Interpol and Argentine federal authorities.

Kadgien's daughter and her husband were briefly detained and are now under house arrest while the investigation proceeds. Despite four property searches, the painting has not been located. While the couple's lawyer, Carlos Murias, has stated his clients' willingness to cooperate, prosecutors confirmed the artwork has not been returned. During the searches, investigators did seize two other artworks from the home of another of Kadgien's daughters, which will be analyzed to determine if they are also stolen works.

The Portrait of a Lady was stolen from Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch Jewish art dealer. On May 13, 1940, as Nazi forces neared Amsterdam, Goudstikker, his wife, and their young son fled on a cargo ship to England. Following their departure, his entire art collection was sold to Herman Göring for a fraction of its value. This plunder was orchestrated by Friedrich Kadgien, who was a member of the Nazi Party and the SS and coordinated the sale of stolen Jewish assets to fund the Nazi war machine.

Kadgien fled Germany in 1945, first to Switzerland and then to Buenos Aires, where he died in 1978 without ever facing trial. The Portrait of a Lady traveled with him and remained in his family’s possession for decades. Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s 81-year-old daughter-in-law, has made it her life's mission to recover the stolen art. She and the family's lawyer plan to mount a legal challenge to reclaim the painting. Art experts believe the painting is authentic, noting that similar works by Ghislandi have sold at auction for only a few thousand dollars, making forgery unlikely. The case underscores the ongoing effort to return stolen art to the families of Holocaust victims and hold accountable those who benefited from Nazi plunder.