BUENOS AIRES: A Nazi-looted painting missing for nearly 80 years has been recovered in Argentina, international media outlets reported on Monday.
The discovery followed months of international cooperation and a series of coordinated raids by local authorities. The Nazi-looted painting resurfaced after appearing in a real estate advertisement.
Officials said the painting is a portrait of a woman by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi (1655–1743). It had been missing since the Second World War.
The portrait originally belonged to Friedrich Kadgien, a financial adviser to senior Nazi officer Hermann Göring. Kadgien later settled in South America after the war.
Last month, investigators spotted the Nazi-looted painting in a property listing. The image showed the artwork hanging above a sofa inside a house in Mar del Plata, about 400 kilometers south of Buenos Aires.
When authorities searched the house, however, the painting was no longer there. This led to legal proceedings to trace its whereabouts and determine ownership rights.
The Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad reported that the portrait had been listed in a wartime lost art database, which helped confirm its identity. The trail reportedly reemerged when Kadgien’s daughter placed the property up for sale.
Experts believe the discovery could open the door for other missing artworks linked to Nazi looting during the war. Thousands of paintings and artifacts stolen in Europe remain unaccounted for, and international agencies continue efforts to locate them.
Legal experts say that restitution cases for Nazi-looted art are often complex, involving cross-border claims and decades-old ownership disputes. However, each recovery is seen as a major step toward justice for families who lost cultural treasures during the war.
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