An Argentine court has ruled that a painting stolen by the Nazis, and only recovered last year after being spotted in an estate agent's photograph, must be returned to the heir of its original Jewish owner. Patricia Kadgien, daughter of a Nazi fugitive who fled to Argentina after the Second World War, agreed to hand back the artwork in exchange for prosecutors dropping concealment charges against her and her husband. The case highlights the ongoing efforts by families of Holocaust victims to reclaim art looted during the Nazi occupation of Europe, decades after the theft occurred.

The late-baroque Portrait of a Lady was one of more than 1,000 works looted from Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker's collection following the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. It was rediscovered in August 2025 after a Dutch newspaper spotted it hanging above a sofa in photos of Kadgien's house for sale near Mar del Plata; her father had been a top adviser to Hermann Göring. Under the agreement reached on Friday, Kadgien and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, forfeit all rights to the painting and must donate 4.8 million pesos (£2,356) to local hospitals, while Goudstikker's daughter-in-law and heir, Marei von Saher, plans to loan the work to the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires.