Journalists Spotted A Missing Nazi-Looted Painting Hanging Above A Couch In An Online Real-Estate Listing

In 1945, Nazi officials stole an 18th-century painting in Amsterdam. Decades later, the painting has turned up in a real estate listing. A judge in Argentina has ordered that it be returned to its rightful heirs.

According to Juan Ignacio Pascual, a lawyer representing the painting's heirs, it is the first time that the justice system in Argentina has recovered a painting stolen by the Nazis during World War II.

"We are not aware of any comparable case involving a Nazi-looted work found in private hands whose restitution to its rightful heirs was ordered as part of criminal proceedings," said Pascual. "In that sense, we consider this a virtually unprecedented case."

The painting, titled Portrait of a Lady, was created by Giacomo Ceruti, an Italian Baroque artist. It was stolen from a Jewish-owned art gallery in Amsterdam in 1945 and was lost until recently. It is valued at around $288,997.30.

Last summer, journalists from the Dutch newspaper, Algemeen Dagblad, spotted the painting in a real-estate listing in a seaside resort town called Mar del Plata.

The portrait was hanging above a green couch in a living room in the home of Patricia Kadgien, the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi official named Friedrich Kadgien. He supervised the thefts of Jewish-owned artworks in occupied countries.

The journalists who led the investigation hadn't expected to find a painting that had been missing for about 80 years. Days after the discovery was made, the police raided the home, but the painting had been removed from its place on the wall.

The photograph in the online listing had been removed as well.

The police confiscated cell phones, unregistered firearms, engravings, drawings, and documents from the 1940s in hopes of advancing the investigation.

rawpixel.com - stock.adobe.com - illustrative purposes only - pictured above is a stylish living room

Soon enough, Patricia Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were charged with concealment, and the painting was recovered.

The couple's criminal case was suspended in court this month because they agreed to a deal that involved returning the artwork to its rightful heirs and donating around $3,200 to local hospitals.

Jacques Goudstikker was the owner of Portrait of a Lady. It was just one of more than 1,110 works in his private collection. After the Nazis invaded in 1940, Jacques was forced to flee the Netherlands and died during the journey. He left behind his art collection, and the Nazis plundered most of it.

To this day, more than 200 pieces have been found and returned to Goudstikker's family, but hundreds more are still out there somewhere. They have spent decades looking for the lost art.

It is possible that the painting will be exhibited at the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires before its restitution. According to a representative from the museum, they are still waiting for the Goudstikker family's decision on where the painting will go.

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