Police raid for Nazi-looted painting finds tapestry instead; Argentina vows continued search

Argentine authorities raiding the former home of a fugitive Nazi officer were unable to find an 18th-century Italian portrait believed to have been looted 80 years ago from a Jewish collector, the public prosecutor says.

Authorities vow to keep pressing their search for the painting, known as “Portrait of a Lady (Contessa Colleoni).” The work by Italian baroque artist Giuseppe Ghislandi belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a leading Dutch art dealer who fled the Netherlands in mid-May 1940 and died during his escape. It is featured in a database of stolen work and recognized as “unreturned” art by the Dutch culture ministry.

???? “Retrato de una dama”, el valioso cuadro robado por los nazis que hallaron en Mar del Plata.

El periodista neerlandés Peter Schouten charló con Diego Ramos y el equipo de #RamosGenerales.

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— Radio Nacional AM 870 (@NacionalAM870) August 26, 2025

The artwork was found on a real estate website advertising a home sale in Argentina, according to the Dutch newspaper AD. The property is believed to have belonged to one of the daughters of Friedrich Kadgien, a senior Nazi official who fled Europe after the war and resettled in Buenos Aires, where he died in 1978, La Nacion reported.

But when police raided the home on Tuesday, to their surprise, hanging on the wall behind the green velvet sofa where the painting had been pictured was a large pastoral tapestry of horses.

The federal public prosecutor’s office says the raid had turned up potentially relevant German documents and prints from the 1940s, but not the sought-after stolen painting.