A judge in Argentina has determined that a recently rediscovered 18th-century portrait, that vanished during the darkest days of World War II after being stolen by Nazi officials, must be returned to its rightful Dutch Jewish heirs. The Argentine federal judge signed off on the return of “Portrait of a Lady." The painting is an 18th-century canvas by Italian baroque painter Giacomo Ceruti, known as Il Pitocchetto, and the judge has ordered it must be returned to the heirs of Dutch Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker.
The ruling closes the book on a decades-long saga marked by theft, a cover-up and Argentina’s dubious role in the aftermath of World War II, when the South American nation became a haven for Nazi party members and many of their ill-gotten gains.
