Argentine couple to return Nazi-looted painting to rightful owner

A painting which was stolen by the Nazis and only recovered in Argentina last year must now be returned to the heir of its rightful owner, a court has ruled.

The late-baroque Portrait of a Lady 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, the daughter of a Nazi fugitive who had fled there after the Second World War, and she has now agreed to return the painting in exchange for not being prosecuted for concealing it from the authorities.

Portrait of a Lady was among over 1,000 artworks looted from the collection of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940.

His daughter-in-law and sole heir Marei von Saher intends for the painting to be exhibited on a temporary loan at the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires to spread awareness of the issue, Argentine newspaper Clarin reports.

Von Saher has previously said her family "aims to bring back every single artwork robbed from Jacques' collection, and to restore his legacy".

This painting was first recognised in August 2025 by the Dutch Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper on an estate agent's website of a property in the coastal town of Mar del Plata.

It was hanging above a green sofa in the living room of Patricia Kadgien, whose father Friedrich Kadgien had been a top adviser to Hermann Goring, Adolf Hitler's deputy. Goring plundered thousands of works across Europe.

Last September, Patricia Kadgien and her husband were charged with concealment and placed under house arrest after a search of her property initially failed to find the painting.

But at Friday's hearing in Mar del Plata, all criminal proceedings were suspended against the couple.

The agreement reached between the families and prosecutors means Kadgien and her husband will give up all rights to the artwork and must donate 4.8 million pesos (£2,356; $3,185) to local hospitals.

Portrait of a Lady, also known as Contessa Colleoni, is attributed to the work of the late-baroque artist Giuseppe Ghislandi.

However, experts have questioned the artwork's provenance, with some scholars attributing it to Giacomo Ceruti - another Italian artist from the same period.