Painting looted by Nazis to be returned to collector's heir

A 17th-century Italian painting previously stolen by the Nazis from a Jewish Dutch art dealer must now return to the collector's sole surviving heir, a judge in Argentina declared on Friday. Judge Santiago Inchausti greenlighted an arrangement where the daughter of a former Nazi officer would relinquish her rights to the painting in order to evade prosecution.

This development opens the door for the long-awaited delivery of the artwork, titled "Portrait of a Lady," to Maril von Saher, the last remaining heir of the late art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. Goudstikker's vast collection of 1,100 paintings was forcibly sold to the Nazi regime following Germany's invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

The piece was highlighted in a photo of a home for sale in Mar del Plata, an Argentine coastal town, in August 2025. The artwork was displayed above a green sofa in the living room of Patricia Kadgien, whose father, Friedrich Kadgien, acted as a financial backer for the Nazi SS paramilitary group. Goudstikker's daughter, Patricia Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were indicted in 2023 for alleged concealment of the 18th-century artwork, knowing that Argentine and international investigators were trying to recover it.

In the deal, the couple consented to surrender any claim to the painting and agree to its return to von Saher in exchange for avoiding a criminal trial and serving two years under court supervision while making regular reports of their whereabouts to authorities. Initially identified as a work by the Italian Baroque painter Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, the painting later received a new attribution from Argentina's National Academy of Fine Arts, now credited to Italian artist Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti.

Following an investigation, the painting's value was estimated at around $290,000. Goudstikker was a prominent European art dealer before World War II, famous for his collection that included works by Rembrandt and Vermeer. He perished in a shipwreck while attempting to escape Amsterdam along with his family as German forces invaded the Netherlands in May 1940.

The origin of "Portrait of a Lady" within Kadgien's possession remains uncertain, as he was not arrested or charged with war crimes after Germany's defeat. Kadgien fled Europe, initially settling in Switzerland and subsequently Argentina, where he passed away in 1978. Kadgien's daughter and sister have agreed to exhibit the painting in Argentina before it is returned to von Saher.

Argentine police conducted searches of Kadgien and his sister's residences last year, seizing two 19th-century paintings, along with other prints and engravings. Ongoing investigations are examining whether any of these items were also looted during World War II.