Argentine court clears return of Nazi-looted portrait to Jewish dealer’s heir

In a landmark decision, an Argentine court on Friday approved a deal that will see a 17th-century painting, looted by a Nazi officer during World War II, returned to the heir of a Dutch-Jewish art dealer. The portrait, titled "Portrait of a Lady," has been housed in Mar del Plata, Argentina, for decades. The agreement was reached after Patricia Kadgien, the daughter of a former high-ranking Nazi official, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, agreed to relinquish their claim to the artwork in exchange for avoiding a criminal trial and serving a two-year period of court supervision.

During this period, they are required to make payments to a local hospital and maintain regular contact with authorities regarding their whereabouts. The court's ruling brings closure to a protracted legal battle that began in August 2025, after Dutch journalists investigating Friedrich Kadgien, a fugitive Nazi financier, discovered the painting in an online listing for his daughter's residence in Mar del Plata.

Despite repeated police raids, the artwork remained elusive until it was handed over to authorities by Kadgien's counsel. The resolution marks a significant step in the restitution of the painting to Marei von Saher, the sole surviving heir of Jacques Goudstikker, whose extensive collection was forcibly sold to Nazi officials following Germany's invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.