Argentine authorities have successfully recovered a painting stolen by the Nazis more than eight decades ago after it was accidentally discovered in a real estate listing photograph. The 18th-century portrait of Contessa Colleoni by late Baroque master Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi had been missing for 80 years before surfacing in an unexpected way.
Patricia Kadgien, daughter of a former Nazi official, and her husband voluntarily surrendered the artwork to prosecutors through their attorney, according to a justice official in Mar del Plata who spoke to Reuters. The painting was recently spotted by chance in a photograph accompanying a house sale advertisement in the Argentine coastal city of Mar del Plata.
A federal court imposed 72-hour house arrest on Patricia Kadgien and her husband starting Monday. Justice officials told Reuters that the couple is being questioned on suspicion of obstructing the investigation to locate the painting. Argentine authorities had conducted a search of the house last week, but initially came up empty-handed.
The portrait of Contessa Colleoni was among more than 1,000 artworks that the Nazis stole from Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer based in Amsterdam who died in 1940. The trail of the painting leads back to Friedrich Kadgien, who worked as an associate of Hermann Göring and organized the sale of Jewish property during the Nazi era.
Friedrich Kadgien fled to Argentina after the end of World War II, bringing the stolen artwork with him. This case represents another significant recovery in the ongoing efforts to locate and return Nazi-looted art to its rightful owners or their heirs. The discovery highlights how stolen artworks continue to surface decades later, often in unexpected circumstances, as families of Nazi officials attempt to sell properties or assets.
