Argentine court clears return of Nazi-looted portrait to Jewish dealer’s heir
- On Friday, an Argentine court approved returning the 18th-century "Portrait of a Lady" to Marei von Saher, heir of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, ending a legal dispute over the Nazi-looted work.
- The painting was among more than 1,000 artworks stolen from Goudstikker's collection after the 1940 Nazi invasion of the Netherlands; it later surfaced in Argentina in the possession of Friedrich Kadgien, a fugitive Nazi financial official.
- Dutch reporters spotted the work in an online real estate listing in August 2025, prompting police raids in Mar del Plata, Argentina, that recovered the painting alongside two 19th-century works and other prints.
- Under the agreement, Patricia Kadgien and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegoso consented to return the artwork and submit to two years of court supervision, avoiding criminal trial while making payments to local hospitals.
- Von Saher intends to exhibit the portrait in Buenos Aires for one year before repatriation; experts now attribute the work to Italian artist Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti, differing from prior identification as Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi.
64 Articles
64 Articles
"Portrait of a Lady," Italian painting looted by Nazis, ordered returned to Jewish collector's heir
The painting was among the artworks looted and sold under duress to Nazi officials from art dealer Jacques Goudstikker after Adolf Hitler's Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.
An Argentine federal judge has ordered the return of “Portrait of a Lady” to the daughter-in-law and sole heir of the Dutch gallery owner Jacques Goudstikker, Marei von Saher.
“Portrait of a Lady” was in the possession of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of former Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien. She and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were charged with receiving stolen goods last September and placed under house arrest.
The painting of a Jewish gallerist discovered in 2025 in Argentina goes back to his heiress. The daughter of a NS official and her husband relinquish all claims to the work.
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