The daughter of a German Nazi who fled to Argentina has handed over to authorities an 18th-century painting believed to have been looted during World War II, Argentine prosecutors said Wednesday.
The head of the Mar del Plata Prosecutor’s Office, Daniel Adler, announced the news at a press conference following a judge’s decision to place the daughter, Patricia Kadgien, and her husband under house arrest for 72 hours. They are suspected of interfering with an investigation into the whereabouts of “Portrait of a Lady” by the late-Baroque painter Fra Galgario, aka Giuseppe Ghislandi (1655–1743).
“Today, at approximately 2:00 p.m., the lawyer representing the individuals under investigation delivered the artwork” to the headquarters of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office, the federal prosecution’s website reported on Wednesday.
Law enforcement agents in Argentina last week raided the couple’s house in search of the painting, but the object had been removed by the time they arrived. Three additional raids were authorized at properties belonging to the couple but the painting was not found.
The raids followed a media report in the Netherlands about the early 18th-century painting, which was spotted on a real estate listing for a property in Mar del Plata, situated some 25 miles south of Buenos Aires.
Algemeen Dagblad‘s research into how the painting might have gotten there led to Friedrich Kadgien, who had served as Hermann Göring’s financial adviser. Kadgien fled to Argentina after World War II and died there in 1978. The property on sale belonged to his daughter Patricia.
Argentina’s Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA) last month asked the federal court in Mar del Plata to authorize it to seize the painting, but when agents arrived with the warrant, they found a tapestry in its place, along with old documents and firearms.
The couple petitioned the court to nullify the investigation, claiming the statute of limitation applied, according to La Nacion.
The painting belonged to Jewish Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who sold it under duress in 1940.
Similar artworks by Giuseppe Ghislandi have fetched only several thousand dollars, and some even less, at auction in recent years.
Goudstikker’s sole heir, his daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, 81, has said she plans to file a claim and launch legal action to have the painting restored to her family.
