Crystal Charles
A painting looted by the Nazis during World War II has been recovered in Argentina after disappearing for more than eight decades.
The work, Portrait of a Lady by Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, was identified last month on an estate agent’s website. The photograph showed the canvas hanging in the home of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of a Nazi fugitive.
Her late father, Friedrich Kadgien, had served as a senior adviser to Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s deputy, who orchestrated the plundering of thousands of artworks across Europe.
Prosecutors confirmed the portrait, dating from 1710, was voluntarily returned through Kadgien’s lawyer. Ariel Bassano, an art expert who assisted investigators, described the work as being “in good condition for its age,” and valued it at around $50,000, according to La Capital newspaper.
Kadgien and her husband were placed under house arrest this week after authorities said they initially obstructed the investigation. They are expected to face charges of “concealment of theft in the context of genocide” at a hearing scheduled for Thursday. The couple insists they inherited the painting legally.
Raids on four additional properties linked to the family uncovered other paintings, drawings, and 19th-century engravings, which are now being examined to determine whether they too were stolen during the war.
The recovered portrait once belonged to Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose collection was forcibly sold by the Nazis following his death in 1940. His heir, Marei von Saher, said the family’s mission remains to recover all works taken from the collection. “We aim to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection, and to restore his legacy,” she said.
Some 202 works from Goudstikker’s holdings were returned to the family in 2006.
