Argentine court clears return of Nazi-looted portrait to Jewish dealer’s heir

An Argentine court has approved a deal for the return of the 18th-century painting "Portrait of a Lady," looted during World War II, to its rightful heir. The painting was part of the collection of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose works were seized by Nazis. The daughter of a fugitive Nazi official, Patricia Kadgien, and her husband agreed to relinquish their claim to the painting in exchange for avoiding a criminal trial. They will undergo two years of court supervision and make payments to a local hospital. The agreement concludes a decades-long search for the artwork, which was discovered by Dutch reporters in an online real estate listing for Kadgien's home in Mar del Plata, Argentina.

A late-baroque painting, "Portrait of a Lady," looted by Nazis from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker in 1940, has been recovered in Argentina and ordered to be returned to its rightful heir. The artwork was lost for 80 years until it was spotted in photographs of a house for sale near Buenos Aires. The house belonged to Patricia Kadgien, daughter of a Nazi fugitive and adviser to Hermann Goring, who agreed to return the painting to avoid prosecution for concealing it. The sole heir, Marei von Saher, intends to exhibit the painting at the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to raise awareness. The painting's location was first identified in August 2025 by a Dutch newspaper on an estate agent's website.