Old master painting looted by Nazis recovered a week after being spotted in Argentinian property listing

Portrait of a Lady by the Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi handed over by daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien

Giuseppe Ghislandi's 18th-century painting "Portrait of a Lady" is displayed during a press conference by Prosecutor Daniel Adler in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Picture: Christian Heit/AP

Authorities in Argentina have recovered an 18th-century painting stolen more than 80 years ago by the Nazis from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam, a week after it was spotted by chance in a real estate listing.

The painting, the long-lost 'Portrait of a Lady' (Contessa Colleoni) by the Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, was looted in the second world war. It was handed over on Wednesday to the Argentinian judiciary by the daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien, Patricia Kadgien, who has been under house arrest with her husband since Tuesday.