Lost Nazi-Looted Masterpiece Vanishes After Reappearing in Argentina Real-Estate Listing

27 August 2025

Portrait of a Lady by Giuseppe Ghislandi belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a leading Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam. Photograph: Robles Casas & Campos

Seventy‑five years after vanishing during World War II, a 17th‑century Old Master painting Portrait of a Lady by Italian artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi has resurfaced under extraordinary circumstances, only to disappear again before authorities could reclaim it. The painting, initially looted from Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, was spotted in a real estate listing for a villa near Mar del Plata, Argentina. The property belongs to the daughter of Friedrich Kadgien, a high‑ranking Nazi official who escaped to Argentina after the war. The discovery has ignited a renewed investigation into the fate of countless art treasures lost in the Holocaust.

The saga began when reporters from the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad identified the painting hanging above a green velvet sofa in the listing’s interior photos. The images matched the known description of the lost masterpiece. Upon learning of its appearance, Argentine authorities quickly raided the villa, but the painting was gone. In its place hung a horse‑and‑landscape tapestry, and the real estate listing was promptly removed from the agency’s website.

Although the artwork remains missing, officials seized other potentially informative items during the raid including firearms, engravings, and period prints and warned that Kadgien’s descendants could face charges for concealing stolen wartime property, which carries no statute of limitations.

The painting’s provenance traces back to the 1940 forced sale of Goudstikker’s 1,100‑strong collection following his death while fleeing the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. Many pieces entered Hermann Göring’s personal collection; Portrait of a Lady is listed separately as "unreturned" in the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency’s database.

The discovery not only raises haunting questions about the fate of Nazi‑looted art but also underscores Argentina’s complex legacy of harboring war criminals under General Juan Perón’s regime. The Kadgien family, with deep ties to Göring, seemed to have held the piece in safekeeping for decades, emblematic of the many unresolved cases of cultural theft in private hands.

Goudstikker’s lone surviving heir, Marei von Saher, has relentlessly pursued restitution for the collection. In 2006, she secured the return of over 200 works after years of legal battles. Now, she intends to reclaim Portrait of a Lady. “My family aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection and restore his legacy,” she remarked through her lawyers.

This unfolding story also exposes the power of investigative journalism. It was only through Algemeen Dagblad’s decade‑long search and persistence including dispatching a reporter directly to the estate that the trail was ever reignited. Their discovery illustrates how visibility often from unexpected sources can alter history’s course.

However, the painting’s disappearance before recovery emphasizes the fragility of justice in such cases. Without access to the painting, provenance experts face steep challenges in confirming its authenticity or charting a path for legal restitution.

Still, the case has energized efforts to uncover other looted treasures, sparking renewed interest from both national and international agencies, including Interpol. For Argentina, it brings into sharp focus an enduring, unresolved chapter of its postwar history. For the art world and Goudstikker’s descendants, it is a bittersweet moment of hope and frustration an invitation to continue healing through remembrance and restoration.