A 17th-century masterpiece stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish art dealer has been discovered hanging above a moss-green velvet sofa in an Argentine seaside villa, after appearing in a real estate listing that caught the attention of Dutch journalists. The painting, "Portrait of a Lady" by Giuseppe Ghislandi, had been missing for eight decades before surfacing in the unexpected location.
The discovery began when journalists from the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad spotted the artwork in photos published by the real estate agency Robles Casas & Campos, which was marketing a property for sale in Mar del Plata, a coastal resort town in Argentina. "I called my colleagues in Holland, and they said, 'This can't be, this can't be! That's the painting they're looking for,'" reported Peter Schouten, the newspaper's South America correspondent.
The masterpiece originally belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam, before it was stolen by the Nazis along with more than 1,000 other works from his collection during World War II. The painting had been listed as missing on the "Lost Art" website since 2019, part of ongoing efforts to track down Nazi-looted artwork that disappeared during the war.
The property being sold belonged to the daughters of Friedrich Gustav Kadgien, who played a significant role in Nazi Germany's financial administration and served as Hermann Göring's right-hand man. When the Nazi regime needed funding for its armaments industry, officials explored various financing methods, including the theft of valuable paintings from prominent art collectors in the Netherlands. Like many other Nazi officials, Kadgien fled to Argentina after World War II, where he became a successful businessman and was never prosecuted for his wartime activities.
Following the Dutch journalists' investigation, Argentine authorities conducted a raid on the villa on Tuesday, but reportedly found that the painting had already disappeared. According to journalist Peter Schouten, a carpet now hangs on the wall where the masterpiece was previously displayed. Argentine federal prosecutor Carlos Martinez told local media that the case is being treated as suspected concealment of smuggling connected to crimes against humanity during World War II. An investigation has been launched against Kadgien's daughters.
The discovery has led to the identification of additional looted artwork. Dutch journalists found another stolen piece, a 17th-century Dutch flower still life painting, on the social media profiles of the sisters. This second work was also part of the extensive collection plundered from Goudstikker's gallery during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Lawyers representing the Goudstikker estate have vowed to pursue all legal avenues to recover the painting. Marei von Saher, Goudstikker's sole surviving heir and daughter-in-law, told media outlets that her family remains committed to recovering every single artwork stolen from the collection. The task remains enormous: of the more than 1,000 works looted from Goudstikker's collection, only slightly more than 200 have been successfully returned to date.
The case highlights the ongoing challenges in tracking down Nazi-looted art, which continues to surface in unexpected places around the world decades after the war ended. Many stolen works remain in private collections, sometimes passed down through generations of families unaware of their dark provenance, while others are deliberately hidden by those who know their true origins.
