A painting discovered in an Argentine home in August, initially attributed to 18th-century Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi and believed to be Nazi-looted art, has been called into question. Paolo Plebani, curator of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, Italy, told the Argentine newspaper Clarín that the work is actually by Giacomo Ceruti, another Northern Italian painter. The painting was previously owned by Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, who fled the Nazis, and later by former Nazi Friedrich Kadgien, whose daughters Patricia and Alicia owned the Mar del Plata home where it was found. Argentine authorities recovered the painting after placing the daughters and Patricia's husband under house arrest.
The new attribution complicates an already tangled case involving Nazi-looted art, provenance disputes, and international legal claims. Goudstikker's heirs are seeking the painting's return through New York courts, while Argentine officials have exhibited the work and plan to store it at the Holocaust Museum in Buenos Aires. The story highlights ongoing challenges in identifying and repatriating artworks stolen during the Nazi era, as well as the critical role of expert attribution in such cases.