Artwork looted by Nazis from Amsterdam found hanging in a living room in Argentina
A painting from the Goudstikker collection has resurfaced after being missing for decades. The painting was stolen from the Jewish man’s collection in the Second World War by a high-ranking Nazi official. Newspaper AD tracked it down hanging above the couch in the home of one of the Nazi official’s daughters in Argentina.
The painting involved is “Portrait of a Lady” by the Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi. AD has suspected for some time that the painting was in the daughter’s home in an Argentinian coastal town, but the Nazi official’s daughters were unwilling to speak to the newspaper’s journalists.
The newspaper now managed to confirm the painting’s location in a remarkable way. The house was put on the market, and photos on the Argentinian realtor’s website show the painting hanging in the living room above the couch. According to AD, another source confirmed that the painting is still in the house.
The heirs of the Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker plan to reclaim the painting. “My search for the artworks of my father-in-law, Jcaques Goudstikker, began in the late 1990s, and I have given up to this day,” daughter-in-law Marei von Saher (81) told the newspaper. “It is my family’s goal to recover every artwork looted from the Goudstikker collection and to restore Jacques’ legacy.”
Two WWII cultural heritage advisors from the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) don’t doubt that this is the real artwork. The RCE has had it listed as missing for decades. They anticipate that the Goudstikker estate may have a lengthy legal process ahead of it if the current owner refuses to return the artwork. “If a painting is privately owned and the owner refuses to return it, it can become a difficult story after all these years," they told the newspaper.
