An 18th-century portrait, presumed to be “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, has resurfaced in an unexpected location: displayed above a couch in a home in coastal Argentina. This discovery was made not by law enforcement or museum officials, but rather by a group of investigative journalists examining a real estate listing online.
The painting belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a renowned Dutch-Jewish art dealer whose vast collection of over 1,100 pieces was confiscated following the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. Many of these works ended up in the hands of senior Nazi figures, including Hermann Göring, as reported by the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).
This potential discovery is the culmination of nearly a decade of investigation by journalists Cyril Rosman, Paul Post, and Peter Schouten of the Algemeen Dagblad (AD). They began tracing Friedrich Kadgien, a financial adviser to Göring, several years prior.
“Kadgien escaped to South America at the end of the war,” Rosman explained to ABC News. “We knew from archival documents that he brought diamonds, jewelry, and two stolen paintings with him. We’ve spent years trying to piece together his life here and where those paintings ended up.”
Kadgien passed away in Buenos Aires in 1978, leaving behind properties in Mar del Plata, which ultimately led the AD team to their investigation’s breakthrough.
After facing numerous dead ends, the team decided to make one last effort. Schouten traveled to the property after noticing a ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard. He recalled: “I rang the bell. Nobody answered but we saw movement inside.”
Later, while reviewing the property listing with his husband, a media producer assisting with the investigation, they stumbled upon the painting’s image. “My husband suddenly said, ‘Look, isn’t that the painting?'” Schouten recounted. “I told him, ‘No, that can’t be true. The Dutch government has been looking for this painting for 80 years… it can’t just be hanging above a sofa in Mar del Plata.’ But there it was.”
Rosman, who was examining the same images from the Netherlands, echoed Schouten’s disbelief, noting, “I was scrolling through the listing… I didn’t expect to find one of the paintings we’d been searching for just sitting there in the living room. It was surreal.”
The AD team sent images to the RCE, which maintains official records of art looted by the Nazis. Annelies Kool, a provenance researcher at the agency, stated that while they are “almost certain” the painting is indeed the missing “Portrait of a Lady,” they require a personal examination for full confirmation. “We know that Kadgien possessed this painting,” Kool said. “Given that he fled to Argentina after the war and we now see it hanging in the living room of his daughters, we assume it has remained within the family for the past 80 years.”
Kool highlighted that the RCE has cross-verified the photograph with wartime records, noting similar dimensions and composition, but emphasized the need to check for any provenance labels or markings on the back of the canvas.
To corroborate the identification, the AD also gathered additional images from inside the house from a different source. Schouten mentioned they attempted to contact Kadgien’s daughters for their perspective, but after weeks of attempts, only one daughter responded briefly before blocking further communication.
Shortly after these exchanges, the real estate agency, Robles Casas y Campos, removed the listing and related images from their site. Goudstikker’s heirs, represented by U.S. attorneys Yael Weitz and Amelia Keuning from Freedman, Normand & Friedland, LLP, are preparing a restitution claim for the portrait. Weitz confirmed that their client, Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s 81-year-old daughter-in-law and sole heir, intends to pursue recovery of the looted artwork. “Our client does intend to make a claim,” Weitz stated.
Another painting, a floral still life by Dutch artist Abraham Mignon, was noted in Kadgien’s possession, with suggestions it may have appeared in a 2012 social media post by one of his daughters. However, the claim for restitution will only include the Ghislandi portrait.
Von Saher conveyed her long-standing commitment to recovering the artworks taken from her father-in-law’s collection, stating, “I have been on this quest since the late 1990s. My family’s goal is to locate and recover each and every artwork looted from Jacques Goudstikker’s collection and restore his legacy.”
Art detective Arthur Brand remarked on the unusual nature of this case, saying, “A painting stolen in WWII, thought lost for decades, suddenly pops up on a real estate website in Argentina, hanging above a sofa. You can’t write a better script.” He added the discovery illustrates the unpredictable journey of recovering looted art, emphasizing the vast number of stolen pieces that may still exist in private hands.
Rosman believes this incident could be just the beginning of unveiling similar cases, noting, “Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Nazi fugitives fled to Argentina after the war. Who knows how many more looted artworks ended up here, quietly passed down through families?”
Brand agreed, underlining the continuing relevance of this case: “Thousands of Nazi-looted works are still out there, hanging in living rooms, passed down quietly through families. Argentina was a haven for many who fled Europe after the war—who knows how many masterpieces are still hidden here?”
