The chance, luck and naivety of thieves are sometimes precious auxiliaries to find a work of stolen art. Thus, in Argentina, journalists have identified a table stolen by the Nazis on a banal real estate ad. This work, belonging to the Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, had been seized during the invasion of the Netherlands by the Germans. On the site of the real estate agency, which presents a virtual visit of the house, the painting in question, a portrait of the Countess Colleoni, painted by Giuseppe Ghislandi (1655-1743), was enthroned in the living room.
Jacques Goudstikker was an important old art merchant of the Netherlands between the two wars. His gallery was in the center of Amsterdam and his collection included more than a thousand works. He had fled the Germans with his wife and his son to join England, but he died during the crossing. His collection was forcibly sold to the Nazi dignitaries, including Hermann Göring, Minister of Air. Friedrich Gustav Kadgian, SS officer and financial expert close to Göring, had taken over several works. At the end of the war, Kadgian found refuge in Switzerland and then in Brazil, before establishing himself in Argentina where he made a fortune as a businessman.
In total, 1,100 works from the collection have disappeared. After the war, several hundred were recovered by the Netherlands and are now exposed to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The only heiress of Goudstikker, Marei von Saher, obtained restitution of 202 works after a legal battle concluded in 2006. During research by journalists, another painting was identified on a photo posted on social networks by one of the two girls of Kadgian Friedrich: a deadly Dutch -century Dutch nature, painted by Abraham Mignon.
On Tuesday, August 26, Argentine justice searched the villa, but the paintings sought had been withdrawn and the furniture of the show where the portrait was redeveloped. The real estate agency withdrew its announcement and the daughters of Kadgian changed their identifiers on social networks. Gravings, weapons and other objects have however been found at their home and will be paid to the investigation file.
Marei von Saher said he asked his lawyers to initiate procedures to recover the tables. The authenticity of the works cannot be confirmed from simple photographs, but Annelies Kool and Perry Schrier, of the Cultural Heritage Agency in the Netherlands, affirm: “There is no reason to think that it could be a copy”.
