Translated with AI
The daughter and son-in-law of a Nazi who stole paintings from European Jews during World War II have been charged with concealing numerous works of art, including 22 paintings by French artist Henri Matisse, the BBC reports.
The couple came into the spotlight after an 18th-century painting stolen from a Dutch collector was spotted in an Argentine property listing last month.
"Portrait of a Lady" by Italian Baroque artist Giuseppe Ghislandi was considered lost for 80 years until it accidentally surfaced in a photograph taken in the home of the daughter of Nazi Friedrich Kadgien. He fled to Argentina after the war and died there in 1978.
Police launched an investigation and conducted several searches in search of the painting, but ultimately found not it, but 22 works from the 1940s by Matisse (1869–1954), as well as other works whose provenance has yet to be determined.
The paintings were found in the possession of members of the Cadguien family in the Argentine seaside resort of Mar del Plata, police said.
The 58-year-old daughter, Patricia Cadgien, and her 60-year-old husband eventually turned over Ghislandi's work to authorities and appeared in court on Thursday, where they were charged with concealing the artwork.
Portrait of a Lady was part of the extensive collection of Jacques Goudstikker, who died fleeing the Netherlands in 1940 when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany.
Today, the painting is valued at approximately $50,000, according to Argentine media.
Goodstikker's collection was divided among high-ranking Nazis led by Gestapo founder Hermann Göring, and Kadgien, Adolf Hitler's financial adviser, was put in charge of transporting the loot to South America.
After the war, the Netherlands returned around 300 works from the collection, most of which were returned to Goudstikker's heirs, although many remain scattered around the world.
