An Argentine court has cleared the way for the return of an 18th-century painting looted during the Nazi era to the heir of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker.
The painting, known as “Portrait of a Lady,” had been missing for decades before it was discovered in Argentina in 2025.
Federal Judge Santiago Inchausti approved an agreement on Friday under which Patricia Kadgien, the daughter of fugitive Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, agreed to give up any claim to the artwork.
The agreement allows the couple to avoid a criminal trial while remaining under court supervision for two years.
Painting was discovered in a real estate listing
The portrait resurfaced in a highly unusual way.
In August 2025, Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad spotted the painting in photographs included in an online real estate advertisement for a home in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
It was hanging above a green sofa in the home of Patricia Kadgien.
Her father, Friedrich Kadgien, had been a high-ranking Nazi financial official who fled Europe after World War II and eventually settled in Argentina.
After the newspaper published its findings, the real estate listing disappeared within hours.
Argentine police subsequently searched the property several times but initially failed to locate the painting. More than a week later, Kadgien’s lawyer handed the artwork over to authorities.
A Nazi-looted artwork from the Goudstikker collection
The painting was traced to the collection of Jacques Goudstikker, one of Europe’s leading art dealers before World War II.
Goudstikker’s collection included works by major artists such as Rembrandt and Vermeer.
After Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, his collection was forcibly sold to Nazi officials. An estimated 1,100 works from the collection were illegally sold, including works acquired by Hermann Göring.
Goudstikker died in a shipwreck while fleeing the Netherlands with his family as German forces advanced.
His family spent decades seeking the return of artworks taken from the collection.
Who will receive the painting?
The painting is set to be returned to Marei von Saher, the sole surviving heir of Goudstikker.
Von Saher has spent decades pursuing the recovery of art that belonged to her husband’s family.
Her lawyers said she has agreed to allow the painting to be exhibited in Argentina before it is returned to her.
The family’s legal team has discussed displaying the work in Argentina for at least a year to draw attention to Goudstikker’s story and the broader history of Nazi-looted art.
The painting’s artist was reassessed
For much of its known history, the portrait was identified as the work of Italian Baroque painter Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi.
It was recorded under that attribution in Goudstikker’s collection and had been exhibited in Amsterdam before World War II.
But a court-ordered examination by Argentina’s National Academy of Fine Arts reached a different conclusion.
Experts attributed the work to Italian painter Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti.
The painting was also authenticated as part of Goudstikker’s collection and valued at approximately €250,000, or about $290,000.
Why the couple will not face trial
Patricia Kadgien and her husband were charged last year with aggravated cover-up after investigators alleged that they concealed the painting despite knowing authorities were looking for it.
Under the agreement approved by the court, the couple will surrender any claim to the artwork.
In return, they avoid a criminal trial and will remain under court supervision for two years.
They are also required to make payments to a hospital in Mar del Plata and keep authorities informed of their whereabouts.
More paintings remain under investigation
The case has also raised questions about other artworks connected to the Kadgien family.
During police raids last year on properties belonging to Kadgien and her sister in Mar del Plata, authorities seized two 19th-century paintings, along with other prints and engravings.
Investigators are examining whether any of those works could also have been looted during World War II.
A decades-old search moves closer to an end
The court decision represents a major step in the effort to restore “Portrait of a Lady” to Goudstikker’s family.
The painting’s journey—from a Dutch-Jewish art collection disrupted by the Nazi occupation, to decades of disappearance, and finally to a photograph in an Argentine property advertisement—has made the case an unusual example of how looted artworks can resurface many decades later.
The work is now in Argentine judicial custody, with the legal process cleared for its eventual return to Marei von Saher
