Argentina must return an 18th-century painting looted by Nazis from a Dutch Jewish art collector to his sole heir, following a Mar del Plata federal court approval of a settlement reached on Friday, after the artwork surfaced in a real estate listing.
An 18th-century canvas missing for eight decades is heading home. Federal Judge Santiago Inchausti ordered the restitution of Portrait of a Lady by Italian baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi after an agreement resolved a yearlong criminal case in Argentina.
The masterpiece will be transferred to Marei von Saher, the sole surviving heir and daughter-in-law of Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker.
How a Real Estate Photo Exposed a Nazi Fugitive’s Hidden Asset
The painting’s modern discovery happened in August 2025. Dutch journalists from the Rotterdam-based newspaper Algemeen Dagblad were investigating the postwar flight of Friedrich Kadgien, a high-ranking Nazi financial official who had served as a top adviser to Hermann Göring. Kadgien had handled foreign currency, precious metals, and the sale of confiscated property for the Nazi regime before fleeing Europe for South America via Switzerland and later Argentina.
While researching his past in Argentina, reporters spotted the long-lost portrait hanging above a green velvet sofa in an online real estate listing for a rustic home in the coastal resort city of Mar del Plata. The property belonged to Patricia Kadgien, the fugitive official’s daughter. Within hours of the Dutch newspaper publishing its findings, the online listing vanished.
When Argentine police arrived to search the premises, they found no trace of the canvas. Authorities later placed Patricia Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, under house arrest, charging them with aggravated cover-up as prosecutors pursued charges of concealing smuggling.
The Court Settlement and Legal Terms
Under the court-approved agreement reached in federal court, Patricia Kadgien and her husband agreed to give up any further claim to the portrait and consent to its return. In exchange, the couple avoided a criminal trial, securing an arrangement that places them under court supervision for two years while requiring them to inform authorities of their whereabouts and make payments of approximately $3,200 to local hospitals in Mar del Plata.
The Tragedy of Jacques Goudstikker’s Plundered Collection
Before the Second World War, Jacques Goudstikker was one of Europe’s leading art dealers, maintaining an extensive inventory that included works by Rembrandt and Vermeer. When German forces swept into the Netherlands in May 1940, Goudstikker fled Amsterdam with his family but died in a shipwreck during the escape.
In the wake of the invasion, an estimated 1,100 works from his collection were sold under duress to Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man. While the postwar Dutch state managed to retrieve approximately 300 pieces and returned most to the family, hundreds more remain scattered across the globe.
Next Steps and Exhibition Plans
Before the canvas is shipped back to Europe, Von Saher has agreed to let it be exhibited in Argentina, including on a temporary loan at the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to raise public awareness about the issue.
