Argentina must return Nazi-looted painting to Dutch Jewish collector's heir, judge rules

Argentina must return to the rightful owner’s heir an 18th-century painting stolen by Nazis from a Dutch Jewish art collector, a judge has ruled.

Portrait of a Lady by Italian baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi was missing for eight decades before being photographed in 2025 hanging in the home of the daughter of a senior Nazi officer who had fled to Argentina after the second world war.

“An order will be issued for the painting to be returned to the heir” of art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, judge Santiago Inchausti declared on Friday after an agreement reached between the concerned parties.

The painting was first recognised by the Dutch newspaper AD in photographs of a house for sale in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata.

It was hanging above a green sofa in the living room of Patricia Kadgien, whose father, Friedrich Kadgien, was a financier for the Nazi SS paramilitary organisation.

He was one of several high-ranking Nazis to escape to Argentina after the second world war.

Patricia Kadgien, who clutched a rosary during the hearing in Mar del Plata, was charged with concealment and placed under house arrest along with her husband when the artwork was identified.

The pair agreed to return the painting to Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law and sole heir, Marei von Saher, and give about $3,200 to local hospitals.

Portrait of a Lady was among more than 1,000 artworks stolen from Goudstikker’s collection after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

Goudstikker fled his country days after the invasion, leaving behind many works which were divided up by top German officials.

After the war the Dutch state retrieved about 300 works from the collection, most of which it later returned to Goudstikker’s heirs. But more remain scattered around the world.