An Argentine court has approved a settlement requiring the return of a 17th-century Dutch masterpiece to the heir of a Jewish art dealer whose collection was plundered by the Nazis more than eight decades ago. The painting, Portrait of a Lady — a depiction of Italian countess Colleoni by Baroque artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi — will be handed over to Marei von Saher, daughter-in-law and sole heir of Amsterdam-based art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, ending a remarkable journey that took the work from Nazi-occupied Europe to a suburban Argentine living room.

The case began in August 2024 when journalists from the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad spotted the painting hanging above a green sofa in photographs on an Argentine real estate website. The property, located in Mar del Plata, a coastal city south of Buenos Aires, belonged to Patricia Kadgien and her husband. Kadgien's father, Friedrich Kadgien, had served as a financial adviser to Hermann Göring — Adolf Hitler's deputy and one of history's most prolific art plunderers — before fleeing to Argentina after the Second World War, taking dozens of looted artworks with him. Shortly after journalists made contact with the couple about the painting, it disappeared from the property, prompting criminal charges for concealing stolen cultural property.

Under the court-approved settlement, the criminal case against the Kadgiens has been dropped in exchange for the painting's return. The couple has also agreed to donate the equivalent of approximately €2,750 to local hospitals. The resolution follows a legal and diplomatic process that drew attention across Argentina and the Netherlands.

Goudstikker was one of Europe's leading art dealers before the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940 forced him to flee. He died during that escape, falling into a ship's hold while sailing toward England. His collection of more than 1,000 works was subsequently seized by Göring, who kept some pieces and auctioned the rest. Von Saher has spent decades — since the 1990s — tracking down the scattered artworks, stating that her family