Nazi-Looted Masterpiece Found in Argentine Real Estate Listing

Eighty years after the Nazis looted the collection of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, a long-missing masterpiece has unexpectedly resurfaced. Portrait of a Lady, an 18th-century work by Italian baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi, was discovered hanging casually in the background of a real estate listing in Mar del Plata, a coastal city south of Buenos Aires.

The listing, posted by realtor Patricia Kadgien, quickly caught the attention of art experts, who recognized the painting as one of the stolen works. Their discovery set off a chain of alerts to authorities, sparking an international restitution case and reviving decades-long efforts to return looted art to the heirs of Holocaust victims.

Portrait of a Lady by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi at a media conference in Mar del Plata, Argentina. EPA

The painting’s trail appears to lead back to Friedrich Kadgien, a high-ranking Nazi official and financial adviser to Hermann Goering, a man notorious for looting Jewish-owned and housed

artworks during the war and for being Hitler’s second in command. After World War II, Kadgien fled to Argentina hoping to evade justice for perpetrating his Nazi war crimes, where he lived until his death in 1979. His daughter Patricia, according to sources, inherited the Mar del Plata property, where Portrait of a Lady had reportedly hung.

Following the painting’s identification, Argentine authorities raided multiple properties connected to Patricia Kadgien. There, they uncovered engravings, drawings, and additional 19th-century artworks now under review for possible wartime looting, and 22 paintings by French master Henri Matisse.

Prosecutors have since charged Patricia Kadgien, 58, and her 60-year-old husband with aggravated concealment, alleging they tried to obstruct the investigation. Authorities claim that Kadgien removed the real estate listing and replaced the painting with a tapestry shortly before the raid. While the couple is no longer under house arrest, a judge imposed a 180-day travel ban, requiring them to alert government authorities of their whereabouts if leaving their home for more than 24 hours.

The real estate ad the revealed the painting (Source: Robles Casas & Campos)

Kadgien’s attorney denies any wrongdoing, stating the couple fully cooperated with investigators and were willing to surrender the painting voluntarily. Portrait of a Lady has since been placed in safekeeping at the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum while ownership is formally adjudicated.

Goudstikker’s Collection

The looting of Jacques Goudstikker’s collection has long been recognized as a hugely tragic loss in art history. The collection included Italian Renaissance, European paintings and Northern Baroque, painstakingly collected and exhibited by Goudstikker in Amsterdam.

A family man, Goudstikker in 1937 married Viennese opera singer Désirée von Halban and had a son. Just two years after their marriage the Netherlands grew more hostile to the Jews and they sensed an occupation just a few months away. Fighting against the rising tide, they chose to apply for visas to the United States.

Jacques Goudstikker

Tragically, their visas expired on May 9th, just a day before the Netherlands’ Nazi occupation.

Facing little options, the Goudstikkers fled from Amsterdam on May 13, 1940, without visas, finding passage on the SS Bodegraven.

Days later, Jacques was killed in a tragic accident while aboard the ship, falling through a hatch of the deck and breaking his neck. He left behind his wife and son, and an unassuming black notebook, that held a detailed inventory of his holdings and has since guided restitution efforts. After being buried in England, his wife and son continued their journey to the US.

The Nazis seized Goudstikker’s gallery shortly after his death, with Goering stealing many of the most valuable pieces. Of the roughly 1,200 artworks in his collection, only about 200 have been recovered and returned to the family. Portrait of a Lady was among the hundreds still missing, until now.

Goudstikker’s heirs have spent decades pursuing the return of the lost and stolen pieces in the collection, seeking to restore their family’s legacy and honor Jacques’s memory.

Désirée von Halban

His wife Désirée von Halban initially fought the Dutch government for restitution, but passed away before a resolution was reached. In 2006, the Dutch government finally returned 202 paintings to her surviving heirs.

Though Jacques and Désirée Goudstikker did not live to see justice done, one can only hope that the return of this one painting from their looted collection brings a measure of peace and rest, both to their souls and to the family that has carried this burden for generations.

May this discovery serve as a long overdue act of restitution, and as a tribute to the importance of their story’s preservation. And may the rest of the collection be found and returned swiftly.