A painting thought to be the ‘Portrait of a Lady,’ created by Italian artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, has seemingly emerged from its long-lost status in an unexpected location: displayed prominently in a coastal Argentine home. The artwork was not uncovered through traditional law enforcement channels or art institutions but was instead identified in a photograph featured on a real estate website.
This 18th-century portrait, once part of the collection of Jacques Goudstikker—a renowned Dutch-Jewish art dealer—was seized during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940. Many pieces from Goudstikker’s estate were acquired by senior Nazi officials, including Hermann Göring, as documented by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).
The potential finding resulted from nearly a decade of investigative journalism by Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD), with reporters Cyril Rosman, Paul Post, and Peter Schouten leading the effort.
Rosman noted that the investigation began with tracing Friedrich Kadgien, Göring’s financial adviser who escaped to South America after WWII. “Kadgien escaped to South America at the end of the war,” he stated to ABC News, adding, “We knew from archival documents that he brought diamonds, jewelry, and two stolen paintings with him. We’ve spent years trying to piece together his life here and where those paintings ended up.”
Kadgien passed away in Buenos Aires in 1978, leaving his properties in Mar del Plata to his two daughters, which is where the investigation ultimately led.
After facing multiple dead ends, the AD team decided on a final push, sending Schouten to visit the property in Argentina. “I rang the bell. Nobody answered but we saw movement inside,” Schouten recounted. “Then we noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign in the garden.”
Later, while reviewing the property listing with his husband, a media producer, Schouten surprisedly remarked, “Look, isn’t that the painting?” His initial disbelief gave way to astonishment when he realized it was indeed the artwork the Dutch government had been searching for over 80 years.
Rosman shared a similar experience while perusing the same images. “I didn’t expect to find one of the paintings we’d been searching for just sitting there in the living room. It was surreal,” he remarked.
Following this revelation, AD promptly forwarded the images to the RCE, which maintains records of art stolen by the Nazis. Annelies Kool, a provenance researcher at RCE, expressed with caution that while the agency is “almost certain” of the painting’s identity, a physical examination is necessary for full confirmation. “According to post-war declaration forms, we know that Kadgien possessed this painting,” Kool explained, asserting their assumption of its continued presence within the family for nearly eight decades.
Kool detailed how the RCE cross-referenced the listing photos with original wartime records, confirming matches in measurements and composition. However, to conclusively identify the artwork, a closer inspection of its back for labels or marks from the Goudstikker collection is required.
AD also supplemented the real estate listing images with additional photos from another source to verify the painting’s identity before publishing their findings. Schouten shared that in their attempts to reach out to Kadgien’s daughters, they eventually received a brief and dismissive reply before being blocked.
The real estate agency handling the property, Robles Casas y Campos, later removed the listing and photos showing the painting.
The heirs of Goudstikker, represented by U.S. attorneys Yael Weitz and Amelia Keuning, confirmed plans for a formal restitution claim regarding the ‘Portrait of a Lady.’ Weitz stated, “Our client does intend to make a claim. She is the sole heir of Jacques Goudstikker’s estate and her goal is to recover the artworks that were looted by the Nazis from her father-in-law.”
Kool also noted that a second painting, a floral still life by Dutch artist Abraham Mignon, was listed under Kadgien’s possession in post-war declarations and might have appeared in a 2012 Facebook photo posted by one of Kadgien’s daughters, although its provenance is still unclear.
Weitz indicated that their restitution claim would focus solely on the Ghislandi portrait. Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s 81-year-old daughter-in-law and sole heir, emphasized her determination to locate and recover every piece of artwork plundered from Goudstikker’s collection, stating to ABC News, “I have been on this quest since the late 1990s.”
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Arthur Brand, a renowned art detective widely regarded as ‘the Indiana Jones of the art world,’ expressed excitement over the discovery, commenting, “You can find them anywhere—auction catalogues, archives, attics, even real estate listings.” He further speculated about the many looted artworks that may remain hidden in Argentina, a haven for numerous Nazi fugitives.
Rosman concluded that this incident might be just the beginning of uncovering Nazi-looted art in South America. “Who knows how many more looted artworks ended up here, quietly passed down through families?” Brand echoed this sentiment, underlining that thousands of stolen works may still be awaiting discovery.
