A
long-lost painting by Italian Baroque painter Giuseppe Ghislandi has been found in Argentina, more than 80 years after it was looted by the Nazis. The "Portrait of a Lady (Contessa Colleoni)" had been missing since 1940 when Nazi forces stole it from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker. Reporters for the Dutch newspaper AD discovered the painting while browsing an online real estate listing for a property in Argentina, which was once owned by Friedrich Kadgien, a late SS officer.

    The painting is believed to have been looted by Kadgien and his family after they fled to Switzerland and later Argentina. Marei von Saher, Goudstikker's 81-year-old daughter-in-law and sole heir, has been searching for the painting since the 1990s and plans to reclaim it. Other Ghislandi works have sold at auction for up to $500,000.

    The Nazis stole extensive art collections from across Europe during World War II, primarily from Jewish owners who were sent to concentration camps. The Monuments Men, a group of art scholars and curators, worked to protect cultural heritage and recover stolen art after the war. However, hundreds of thousands of artworks remain missing, including works by Raphael, Van Gogh, and Vermeer.

    Goudstikker's family fled the Netherlands in 1940 after the Nazi invasion, leaving behind a collection of over 1,400 paintings, drawings, and antiques. More than 200 of his paintings were later recovered and returned to the Dutch national collection in 2006.