Painting Allegedly Looted By Nazi Fugitive Resurfaces In The Wildest Way

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentine police raided a villa in a quiet seaside resort on Tuesday as part of a hunt for a 17th-century Italian portrait believed to have been looted 80 years ago from a Jewish collector by a fugitive Nazi officer who settled in Argentina after World War II.

The probe reopens a shadowy chapter in the history of this South American nation, which sheltered scores of Nazis who fled Europe to avoid prosecution for war crimes after World War II, including high-ranking party members and notorious architects of the Holocaust like Adolf Eichmann.

Under the government of Argentine General Juan Perón, whose first tenure lasted from 1946 until his overthrow in 1955, fugitive German fascists brought plundered Jewish property with them from the other side of the world, including gold, bank deposits, paintings, sculptures and furnishings.

The fate of those items continues to make news decades later as the painful process of restitution drags along in Argentina and beyond.

Dutch reporters spot the allegedly looted masterpiece in a real-estate ad

In this case, the lost painting that Argentine authorities are after is “Portrait of a Lady,” a painting by Italian Baroque artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi.

Reporters for the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad first spotted what appeared to be the famous painting on Monday in a real estate ad for a home believed to be owned by the descendants of Nazi fugitive Friedrich Kadgien while searching for stolen artwork from the Netherlands.

Citing Dutch art experts, the Rotterdam-based paper reported that the original “Portrait of a Lady” appeared to be hanging above a green velvet sofa in the living room of a rustic brick chalet for sale in Argentina’s coastal town of Mar del Plata.

The real estate agency, Robles Casas & Campos, did not respond to a request for comment. The house listing was still live late Tuesday, but the image of the portrait, first seen in a 3D tour of the home’s interior, appears to have been removed. The following day, Argentine authorities raided the house.

Federal prosecutor Carlos Martínez told The Associated Press that the painting was not found in the house but officers seized “other items that could be useful for the investigation, such as weapons, some engravings, prints and period reproductions.” He said…