FBI returned Nazi-looted Monet pastel to Jewish heirs 84 years later
The FBI returned a Nazi-looted Monet pastel to the Jewish owners’ heirs 84 years later.
An Argentinian couple believed to have secretly kept an 18th-century painting obtained by Nazis during World War II has handed over the artwork to police.
Patricia Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, handed over “Portrait of a Lady,” a portrait of Countess Colleoni by Vittore Ghislandi, around 2:00 p.m. local time Sept. 3, Federal Attorney General of Mar del Plata Daniel Adler announced during a news conference.
Adler said an attorney representing the couple delivered the artwork to the headquarters of the National Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Kadgien and Cortegoso were placed on a 72-hour house arrest as police conducted raids at their properties this month in search of the painting, which a family member of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker is believed to have been forced to sell to Nazi officials during World War II, the Argentinian public prosecutor’s office said in a news release.
The couple did not disclose the location of the painting or hand it over to police after it was revealed in an August real estate listing of Kadgien’s home in Mar del Plata, about 300 miles from Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires.
A court hearing in the couple’s criminal case was scheduled for Sept. 4, during which a judge is expected to determine if the couple remains in custody. The couple could be held criminally responsible for concealing their possession of the painting.
USA TODAY contacted Kadgien and her partner through social media platforms, but neither had responded as of Sept. 4.
How did the ‘Portrait of a Lady’ painting go missing?
It’s thought the painting made in the 1700s was sold to Kadgien’s father, Friedrich Kadgien, by the Nazis in 1944, Yaél M. Weitz, attorney for Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law, previously told USA TODAY.
Friedrich Kadgien was a Nazi leader who became deeply involved in acquiring currency, securities and diamonds that had been stolen or bought by force from Jewish victims. The office of the Four-Year Plan (economic measures initiated by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany in 1936) asked Kadgien to move some of these assets to Switzerland, according to a Swiss investigative commission that probed the fate of assets transported to the country during and after World War II. Kadgien also moved to Switzerland after the war.
Swiss authorities protected him from extradition requests by the Allies and let him leave the country for Latin America in 1951. He later settled in Argentina, where he spent the remainder of his life.
In the raids of his daughter’s home and the properties belonging to her family Sept. 1, officials found two paintings from one of the family’s residences that could date to the 1800s, according to the Argentinian public prosecutor’s office. The office said other drawings and prints were also found.
Officials plan to examine these works to determine if they’re connected to any thefts during World War II, according to prosecutors.
How did authorities learn about the painting’s whereabouts?
Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad had been investigating the whereabouts of the missing painting as part of a 10-year probe when the outlet discovered a photo of it, in a real estate listing, hanging in Kadgien’s living room in Mar del Plata. Before police released their own photos of the painting, it was the first known color photograph of the artwork, which has long been featured in a database of lost art from the war.
Algemeen Dagblad contacted the real estate agency that had listed the property, inquiring about the painting. Shortly after, on Aug. 26, officials searched the property, but the painting was no longer hanging in the living room.
Police said a horse tapestry was hanging in the portrait’s place. Officials captured photos from the home of marks on the walls and a hook that they said could’ve been used to hang the artwork.
Goudstikker’s daughter-in-law claims to be heir to painting
Weitz, the attorney for the family who lost the work, told USA TODAY that her client, von Saher, 81, is the rightful heir to the painting. Her client has been searching for her family’s missing art pieces since the 1990s. According to Weitz, von Saher has been able to recover about 350 of an estimated 1,200 works that were part of the family’s collection at the time of the war.
“It is encouraging that the painting is now with the authorities and that it is no longer missing. I am relieved that it’s now in a safe and secure place,” von Saher said in a statement to USA TODAY.
It’s estimated that the Nazis either stole or forced Jewish collectors to sell them about 650,000 art pieces between 1933 and 1945, valued at $2.5 billion at the time, according to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY. Current estimates suggest the value of the paintings is now $20.5 billion, and more than 100,000 artworks from that time period have still not been returned to their owners, the documents say.
Goudstikker’s relatives were forced to sell his extensive art collection after he and his family fled the Netherlands during the Nazi invasion in May of 1940, according to the court documents, which also say the art collector died that same month.
He had stored his collection in a 17th-century canal in Amsterdam, which included works by Rembrandt and Van Gogh, as well as Jan Steen and Jacob van Ruisdael, according to the court records. Goudstikker did not take any paintings with him, but kept a black notebook containing the details of his collection, which has since helped his family recover the lost artwork.
Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com.