Art looted by Nazis spotted on Argentinian real estate website

A painting from the collection of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker has been traced to a house in Argentina, the AD reports following a tip-off.

Goudstikker died in an accident on board the ship that was to take him to freedom when the Germans invaded in 1940. The Nazis confiscated many of his artworks, including A Lady’s Portrait by Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi dating from the 17th century.

The painting, a portrait of the Contessa Colleoni, is on the international list of lost art and the official Dutch list of artworks looted by the Nazis.

The painting was in the possession of Friedrich Kadgien, advisor to Reichsmarschall and art looter Hermann Göring, who fled to Argentina after the war. There  it was recently spotted on a real estate website advertising Kadgien’s  house, now owned by his two daughters. The painting can be seen hanging on the wall of the living room.

The descendants of Goudstikker, who successfully retrieved some  202 works of art back from the Dutch state in 2007, and who are also targetting private individuals, have said they will reclaim the painting, their American lawyer told the AD.

“My search for the artworks owned by my father in law Jacques Goudstikker started at the end of the 90s and I won’t give up,” Marei von Saher, 81, told the paper. “My family aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques’ collection and restore his legacy.”

Over 1,100 works from Goudstikker’s collection were bought up for a song by senior Nazis, including Göring.

Researchers from the cultural heritage service RCE said they may have spotted a second painting from the collection by the Dutch 17th stillife painter Abraham Mignon on the sisters’ social media.

That painting was also known to have been in Kadgien’s possession in 1946 but it is not clear how this happened.