- Giuseppe Ghislandi's “Portrait of a Lady” was rediscovered in an online real estate listing.
- The painting was initially looted during World War II by Hitler's deputy Hermann Göring.
- The initial discovery of the artwork was made by Dutch journalists.
A painting that had not been seen for 80 years after being looted by the Nazis during World War II has been discovered and turned over to Argentine authorities.
On Wednesday, an Argentine federal court announced that the long-lost “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi had been recovered by authorities after it appeared in an online real estate listing last month, per CBS News.
The painting was first discovered when Patricia Kadgien, whose late father Friedrich Kadgien had been a top adviser to Adolf Hitler’s deputy Hermann Göring, included a photo of the artwork in an online real estate listing, per BBC. Göring had plundered thousands of works across Europe during the war.
During a press conference to display the portrait, federal prosecutor Daniel Adler said, “We’re doing this simply so that the community to whom we partly owe the discovery of the work ... can see these images.”
“It was people from the community, specifically journalists, who prompted the investigation,” Adler added, per CBS News.
Before its presentation on Wednesday in the coastal Argentine city of Mar del Plata, it had not been seen publicly since World War II.
History of the painting
The painting is a portrait of Countess Colleoni, her hair ink-black and dress embroidered with pastel flowers.
Painted by Ghislandi, it was a part of the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, a Dutch Jewish art dealer who had a collection of over 1,100 works of art, per NBC News. The art dealer died in 1940 while fleeing the Nazis.
Ariel Bassano, an art expert involved in the case, said the painting is “in good condition given its age,” per BBC. He dated the portrait to 1710 and valued it at around $50,000.
How it was discovered
The discovery of the painting was made by Dutch journalists who were investigating Kadgien’s past in Argentina, where the high-ranking Nazi official fled after the Third Reich collapsed, per CBS News.
News of the discovery delighted historians around the world as well as the heirs of Goudstikker. His family have sought to recover his paintings that have been missing since the forced sale of Goudstikker’s extensive collection to Göring.
After the painting was spotted online, a story was published in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad last Monday. Hours later the real estate listing was taken down. According to CBS News, police raided the Mar del Plata home of Patricia Kadgien, but the painting was not there.
Patricia Kadgien and her husband were placed under house arrest pending a hearing on charges of concealment and obstruction of justice. The pair insists that they are the rightful owners of the artwork, which they had inherited, per BBC.
The couple’s lawyer handed the painting over to authorities on Wednesday, but Adler did not share where the portrait will go next.
Earlier this week, authorities raided four other properties belonging to the Kadgien family. They seized paintings and engravings that are suspected of having been stolen during the 1940s. After the fall of the Third Reich, fugitive Nazis fled to Argentina, bringing with them plundered Jewish property, including gold, paintings, sculptures and furnishings, per NBC News.
“My search for the artwork of my father-in-law, Jacques Goudstikker, began in the late 1990s and I have not given up to this day,” said Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, per BBC. “It is my family’s goal to recover every artwork stolen from the Goudstikker collection and to restore Jacques’ legacy.”