Argentine court clears return of Nazi-looted portrait to Jewish dealer’s heir

An Argentine federal court on Friday approved an agreement clearing the way for the return of an 18th-century portrait looted during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands to Marei von Saher, heir of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. Judge Santiago Inchausti approved a two-year probation arrangement for Patricia Kadgien, daughter of Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegoso, who relinquished claims to the painting and agreed to payments benefiting a Mar del Plata hospital. The portrait was discovered in 2025 after Dutch journalists spotted it in a real-estate listing for Kadgien’s home. Authorities later recovered it after searches. Argentine government officials said the work remains under Supreme Court custody pending restitution procedures. Court-ordered experts attributed the painting to Italian artist Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti, overturning its longstanding attribution to Giuseppe Ghislandi. Von Saher’s lawyers said she wants the work temporarily exhibited in Argentina before its eventual return.