\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t Art history specialists working for Argentina\u2019s judiciary have officially confirmed that the 18th-century painting looted by the Nazis and recovered in Mar del Plata is not by Giuseppe Ghislandi, the Italian painter to whom it was originally attributed.<\/p>\n
Instead, they believe it is by Giacomo Ceruti, another Northern Italian artist working in the same period.<\/p>\n
They also valued the work, \u201cPortrait of a Lady,\u201d at up to 250,000 euros (USD291,000). The specialists\u2019 findings confirm earlier observations by art historians. It could help set the conditions for a possible out-of-court settlement in which the couple who were in possession of the painting admit responsibility, according to a judicial source.<\/p>\n
The painting was owned by Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer based in Amsterdam, and looted by Nazis. For decades, its last known whereabouts had been in Switzerland in 1946, in the hands of high-ranking Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien. Then, it resurfaced in August 2025 when Dutch journalist Peter Schouten, who was investigating the fate of the painting, spotted it on a real estate listing in Argentina.<\/p>\n
The house in the listing belonged to Kadgien\u2019s daughter, Patricia.<\/p>\n
The investigation into the painting is expected to finish in March. Investigators are currently going through the family\u2019s social media accounts, phone records, and other documentation to determine whether they knew of the artwork\u2019s origin and how long it had been in their possession.<\/p>\n
Goudstikker\u2019s sole heir, his daughter-in-law Marei von Saher, originally filed a complaint with the FBI. She is now a plaintiff in the Mar del Plata case. Her lawyers have presented documentation to prove that she owns the painting, a judicial source told the Herald.<\/p>\n
National Academy of Fine Arts specialists \u00c1ngel Miguel Navarro and Alejo Gabriel Lo Russo believe the painting is by Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti (1698-1767), known as \u201cIl Pitocchetto,\u201d and not to the Giuseppe Ghislandi (1655-1743), as was initially believed.<\/p>\n
Although Goudstikker\u2019s inventory documents attributed it to Ghislandi, the report determined that, over time, the painting was alternately considered to be the work of Ghislandi and Ceruti.<\/p>\n
\u2018Distinctive of Ceruti\u2019s work\u2019 The art historians said that the painting was in a style known as \u201cLombard naturalism.\u201d<\/p>\n
They reached their conclusion based on \u201cthe careful descriptive treatment of the clothing, which recalls works such as the \u201cPortrait of Marchioness Laura Vitali Aliprandi,\u201d in which dress takes on a fundamental narrative and social value,\u201d according to a statement by the public prosecutor\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach reveals a conception of painting centered on direct observation and on the dignification of non-idealized models, a distinctive trait of Ceruti\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Technical analysis verified the authenticity of the work, and that it was stolen from Goudstikker. The experts were able to identify it thanks to the analysis of documents and historical records, including the photographic archive of the Dutch Institute for Art History.<\/p>\n
The painting\u2019s discovery made headlines all over the world. It is now under investigation by the Mar del Plata Prosecution Unit, led by Carlos Mart\u00ednez.<\/p>\n
In September, Patricia and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were charged with aggravated concealment. After the media reported the work\u2019s location and before a police search, the couple took down the \u201cFor Sale\u201d sign that led journalists to discover the work, and replaced the portrait with a tapestry. The defendants also attempted to file a civil action claiming the painting was theirs.<\/p>\n
They handed it over only after they were placed under house arrest and faced several police raids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Art history specialists working for Argentina\u2019s judiciary have officially confirmed that the 18th-century painting looted by the Nazis and recovered in Mar del Plata is not by Giuseppe Ghislandi, the Italian painter to whom it was originally attributed. Instead, they believe it is by Giacomo Ceruti, another Northern Italian artist working in the same period. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":25940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5764,358,5860,7725,151],"tags":[5760,4024,5857,7724,135],"class_list":["post-25939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts","category-crime","category-nazis-in-argentina","category-painting-looted-by-nazis-in-argentina","category-society","tag-arts","tag-crime","tag-nazis-in-argentina","tag-painting-looted-by-nazis-in-argentina","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}