Argentine Court Orders Return of Nazi-Looted Baroque Portrait to Heir of Jewish Dealer

A court in Argentina has ruled that a painting stolen by the Nazis must be returned to the heir of its rightful owner, ending an eight-decade saga of displacement. The work, a late-baroque Portrait of a Lady, had been missing since 1940 and was only recovered last year after being spotted in online photographs of a house for sale near Buenos Aires.

The painting had hung above a green sofa in the living room of Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Friedrich Kadgien, who served as a senior adviser to Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s deputy. Göring was responsible for plundering thousands of artworks across occupied Europe.

Patricia Kadgien has agreed to surrender the painting in exchange for immunity from prosecution for concealing it from authorities. The portrait was among more than 1,000 works looted from the collection of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker following the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law and sole heir, plans to temporarily loan the painting to the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to raise awareness about Nazi-looted art. She has previously stated that her family “aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection, and to restore his legacy.”

The painting was first recognised in August 2025 by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad on a real estate website listing the property in the coastal town of Mar del Plata. Its rediscovery marks a significant moment in ongoing efforts to return Nazi-looted cultural property to the families from whom it was stolen.