Argentina recovers long-lost Italian painting looted by Nazis during
WWII
[September 04, 2025]
By ISABEL DEBRE and BRUNO VERDENELLI
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine federal court announced
Wednesday that authorities had recovered the long-lost “Portrait of a
Lady,” an 18th-century work by the Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi
that was looted by the Nazis in World War II.
Before the presentation of the giant gold-framed portrait Wednesday in
the Argentine coastal city of Mar del Plata, the painting had not been
seen publicly in 80 years.
The first-ever color photo of the portrait surfaced last month in an
online real estate listing unwittingly posted by one of the daughters of
Friedrich Kadgien, the fugitive Nazi officer accused of stealing the
painting from one of Europe’s most prominent prewar art dealers and
collectors.
“We’re doing this simply so that the community to whom we partly owe the
discovery of the work ... can see these images,” federal prosecutor
Daniel Adler said in a press conference to display the full-length
portrait of Countess Colleoni, her hair ink-black and dress embroidered
with pastel flowers.
“It was people from the community, specifically journalists, who
prompted the investigation," Adler said.
Dutch journalists made the shocking discovery while investigating
Kadgien’s past in Argentina, where the high-ranking official fled after
the collapse of the Third Reich and later died in 1978.
News of the find thrilled historians the world over and eventually
reached the heirs of the painting’s original owner, Dutch-Jewish art
collector Jacques Goudstikker. He died in a shipwreck after fleeing
Amsterdam ahead of advancing German troops in May 1940.
His descendants have sought to recover an estimated 1,100 paintings
missing since the forced sale of Goudstikker’s extensive inventory to
Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, Hermann Göring, who built up a major art
collection during WWII.
The sudden reappearance of “Portrait of a Lady” last week was fleeting.
Within hours of the story’s publication in Dutch newspaper Algemeen
Dagblad last Monday, the real estate listing was taken down. Police
raided the rustic Mar del Plata home of Patricia Kadgien, the Nazi
officer’s daughter, but the painting wasn’t there.
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Giuseppe Ghislandi's 18th-century painting "Portrait of a Lady,"
reportedly stolen by a Nazi officer during World War II and
discovered in the home of his daughter after appearing in a real
estate listing, is displayed during a press conference by Prosecutor
Daniel Adler in Mar del Plata, Argentina, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.
(AP Photo/Christian Heit)
Authorities earlier this week raided other homes belonging to the
Kadgien sisters in Mar del Plata, seizing paintings and engravings
that they similarly suspected of having been stolen during the
1940s.
Argentina’s federal prosecutor’s office placed Patricia Kadgien and
her husband under house arrest pending a hearing Thursday on charges
of concealment and obstruction of justice.
Adler, the prosecutor, told reporters that the couple’s lawyer had
handed over the painting to authorities earlier Wednesday. He did
not specify where the portrait would go next.
An art expert invited to assist with the investigation, Ariel
Bassano, said the painting was being “stored in a special chamber”
for safekeeping.
“It’s in good condition given its age,” Bassano said, dating the
portrait to 1710 and valuing it at roughly $50,000.
It’s not clear exactly how the painting came into the possession of
Kadgien, who worked as a financial adviser to Göring.
____
DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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