JNS reports that a Nazi-looted painting was found in Argentina 80 years after being stolen from Dutch Jewish art collector and dealer Jacques Goudstikker. And, it was all thanks to an online real-estate ad.
The painting, “Portrait of a Lady,” was created in the late-Baroque period by Italian artist Vittore Ghislandi, who died in 1743. It would be acquired by Jacques Goudstikker before being stolen by the Nazis during WW II. Goudstikker’s art collection included over 1200 paintings at the time it was stolen when he fled the Netherlands in 1940.
In recent weeks, “Portrait of a Lady” was seen on a real estate listing in Argentina, where it casually appeared as part of the asset’s interior decoration, the AD newspaper reported. The paper’s research into how the painting got there led to Friedrich Kadgien, who had served as top Nazi official Hermann Göring’s financial adviser. Kadgien fled to Argentina after World War II and died there.
The house advertised in the listing belongs to one of his daughters, according to AD. She told the paper she did not know what painting they meant and then said she was too busy to answer their queries, according to AD. Two experts told the paper they believed the painting was authentic, fit the known dimensions for the artwork and that there would be little incentive to forge the painting.
Similar artworks by Ghislandi have fetched only several thousand dollars, and some even less, at auction in recent years.
In 2006, Dutch reporters started investigating just how many paintings from Goudstikker’s collection were stolen by the Nazis. While more than 200 were reported to be found at that time, several hundred remain missing. Goudstikker’s heir, Marei von Saher, told Dutch newspapers that she plans to file a claim and have the painting legally restored to her family.
“Portrait of a Lady” is just one of the many thousands of pieces of fine art stolen by the Nazis, and much of that art was stolen from Jewish families. This remains one of many wounds still open since the Holocaust. Efforts to reclaim and fully determine just how much was stolen continue today.
