Long-lost artwork, “Portrait of a Lady,” by Giuseppe Ghislandi was discovered on August 25 in an Argentinian real estate company’s home listing. But it wasn’t an art archive or a museum that revealed the painting’s whereabouts, but something far more ordinary: a photograph from an online real estate listing. There it was, hanging above a green velvet couch, quietly watching over a room that had been put up for sale. The resort up for sale has been raided since the listing was discovered. The painting was not recovered at first, but weapons, some engravings, prints and period reproductions that could be useful to the investigation were found.
The painting has been missing for over 80 years and was first stolen by a fugitive Nazi officer who settled in Argentina after WWII. Friedrich Kadgien was a high ranking officer under Adolf Hitler, who fled Germany’s Third Reich and went into hiding in Argentina. For decades, the portrait slipped through the cracks of history – traded, hidden, inherited – until it resurfaced by accident, its silent gaze outlasting the men who once claimed it. It has since been recovered after an extensive search by Argentinian police.
The Infamous Listing
Kadgien’s daughter, Patricia, listed her house through Argentina based real estate agency, Robles Casas and Campos. The photo that raised suspicion showed dark wood banisters lining the ceiling with a green velvet couch as the focal point in the room. But it wasn’t the furniture that drew the eye, but the portrait looming above, unmistakable to anyone who had studied its disappearance.
In a conversation with Dutch reporter Algameed Dagblad, Kadgien said “I don’t know what information you want from me and I don’t know what painting you’re talking about either.” Information regarding the listing is unknown due to the fact that the agency replaced the incriminating photo with one that flaunts a tapestry on the wall where the portrait was hanging. Soon after, the listing itself vanished off the internet, as if trying to erase a digital trail of history rediscovered.
Results from the Search
After the initial raid of the listed property by Argentinian police forces, the painting was not recovered. Search after search turned up only fragments of the past. However, police went through the home four times until Patricia and her husband Juan Carlos Cortegosa, were placed on house arrest and ordered to attend a formal hearing on account of obstruction of justice and concealment. At last, the family’s lawyer delivered the painting, a quiet handover that closed the circle on one of history’s long-lost treasures. No one specified where the painting will go next, but the recovery has made history.
History of “Portrait of a Lady”
The painting was created in the 18th century. It is in the “Lost Art Database”, which Artnet explained indicates that it was looted by the Nazis in Amsterdam in July 1940 by Dutch Jewish art dealer, Jacques Goudstikker. Goudstikker’s life reads like a tragedy: a man fleeing with over a thousand treasures in his luggage, only to fall to his death, aboard a ship as the Nazis advanced.
Goudstikker had over 1,100 famous paintings in his luggage, some of which were sold to German military officer Marshal Hermann Göring. Göring’s right-hand-man, German banker Friedrich Kadgien, bought “Portrait of a Lady.” Kadgien carried the painting across continents, from Europe to South America, where the ghost of his past would eventually be revealed in a family home.
The painting contains a portrait of a woman, Contessa Colleoni, who sits in a gold, floral dress with a headpiece. Her hair is drawn back in a modest knot, her dress shimmering with floral gold and her soft smile seems to defy the turbulent centuries that tried to erase her.
