An 18th-century portrait looted from a prominent Jewish art dealer during World War II is set to return to his family.
An Argentine court has approved an agreement clearing the way for the painting to be handed back to his surviving heir.
The painting, known as Portrait of a Lady, will be returned to Marei von Saher, the sole surviving heir of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose extensive collection was seized and illegally sold after Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.
The court-approved agreement also settles a criminal case against Patricia Kadgien, daughter of former Nazi financial official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso.
The couple will avoid trial in exchange for giving up their claim to the painting and remaining under judicial supervision for two years.
They must also make payments to a hospital in Mar del Plata, where they live, and regularly report their whereabouts to authorities.
The portrait resurfaced in August 2025 after Dutch journalists investigating Friedrich Kadgien found it in an online property listing for his daughter`s home in Mar del Plata.
The listing was removed soon after a Dutch newspaper reported the discovery.
Argentine police searched the property several times but could not locate the painting.
It was eventually handed over to authorities by Kadgien`s lawyer.
The work had long been attributed to Italian Baroque painter Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi.
A court-ordered examination by Argentina’s National Academy of Fine Arts, however, attributed it to Italian painter Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti.
Experts confirmed that the painting had belonged to Goudstikker’s collection and valued it at about 250,000 euros ($290,000).
Goudstikker was one of Europe’s leading art dealers before the war and owned works by masters including Rembrandt and Vermeer.
He died in a shipwreck while fleeing the Netherlands with his family as German forces invaded in May 1940.
Around 1,100 works from his collection were illegally sold to Hermann Göring, one of Adolf Hitler’s most powerful associates and a major collector of Nazi-looted art.
How the portrait later came into Friedrich Kadgien’s possession remains unclear.
Kadgien had served as Göring’s financial adviser and handled foreign currency, precious metals and property confiscated by the Nazi regime.
He fled Europe after the war and eventually settled in Argentina, where he died in 1978 without being arrested or prosecuted for war crimes.
Von Saher, who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, has spent decades seeking the return of artworks taken from her family.
Her lawyers said she has agreed to have the portrait exhibited in Argentina before it is returned to her.
Argentine authorities also recovered two 19th-century paintings, along with prints and engravings, during searches of properties belonging to Kadgien and her sister in Mar del Plata last year.
Investigators are examining whether those works were also looted during World War II.
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