collection

Argentine court clears return of Nazi-looted portrait to Jewish dealer’s heir

Sergio Farella and Almudena Calatrava

A long-lost Italian portrait looted from a prominent Jewish art dealer during World War II was set to be returned to his heir after an Argentine court on Friday approved a deal under which the daughter of a fugitive Nazi official agreed to give up her claim rather than face trial.

The agreement paves the way for the long-sought return of “ Portrait of a Lady ” to Marei von Saher, the sole surviving heir of Dutch-Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, whose celebrated collection was sold under duress to Nazi officials after Adolf Hitler’s Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.

Patricia Kadgien, the daughter of the late high-ranking Nazi official Friedrich Kadgien, and her husband, Juan Carlos Cortegoso, were charged with aggravated cover-up last year after authorities said they hid the 18th-century painting despite knowing it was being sought by Argentine and international investigators.

Under the agreement, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press, the couple agreed to give up any claim to the work and consent to its return to Von Saher in exchange for avoiding a criminal trial and spending two years under court supervision. During that time, they must make payments to a hospital in Argentina’s coastal city of Mar del Plata, where they live, and keep authorities informed of their whereabouts.

The deal ends a generations-long search for the missing portrait and a yearlong legal saga that began in August 2025. Dutch reporters investigating Friedrich Kadgien, a fugitive Nazi financial official who fled to Argentina after World War II, spotted “Portrait of a Lady” hanging above a green velvet couch in an online real estate listing for his daughter’s rustic home in Mar del Plata.

The listing disappeared within hours of the Rotterdam-based newspaper Algemeen Dagblad publishing its findings. Police raided the home several times but failed to find the painting. More than a week later, Kadgien’s lawyer turned it over to authorities.

For decades, the portrait had been identified as a work by the Italian Baroque painter Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi. It appeared under that attribution in Goudstikker’s collection records and was exhibited as a Ghislandi in Amsterdam before the war. But a court-ordered examination by Argentina’s National Academy of Fine Arts reached a different conclusion, attributing the work to the Italian artist Giacomo Antonio Melchiorre Ceruti.

Experts authenticated the painting as part of Goudstikker’s collection and estimated its value at about $290,000.

Goudstikker was one of Europe’s leading art dealers before World War II, known for a collection that included works by Rembrandt and Vermeer. He died in a shipwreck while fleeing Amsterdam with his family as German forces swept into the Netherlands in May 1940.

An estimated 1,100 works from his collection were illegally sold to Hermann Göring, known as Hitler’s right-hand man, who amassed a vast art collection during the war. It remains unclear exactly how “Portrait of a Lady” came into the possession of Kadgien, Göring’s financial advisor, who handled foreign currency, precious metals and the sale of confiscated property for the Nazi regime.

Kadgien fled Europe after Germany’s defeat, first for Switzerland and later Argentina. He died in the South American country in 1978 without having been arrested or charged with war crimes.

Lawyers for Von Saher, who now lives in Greenwich, Conn., and spent decades trying to recover her family’s looted art, said she has agreed to let the painting be exhibited in Argentina before being returned to her.

During last year’s raids on homes owned by Kadgien and her sister in Mar del Plata, Argentine police also seized two 19th-century paintings, along with other prints and engravings. Authorities are still investigating whether any of them may also have been looted during World War II.

Farella and Calatrava write for the Associated Press. AP writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires contributed to this report.

Source link

Men Behaving Badly star Caroline Quentin reveals she’s sold six bedroom home and art collection in attempt to ‘downsize’

CAROLINE Quentin has revealed she may never buy another home after selling her sprawling six-bedroom farmhouse, art collection and jewellery.

The Men Behaving Badly actress, 66, has deliberately stripped back her lifestyle after admitting her huge Devon property and its grounds had become “a bit too much”.

Caroline Quentin has revealed she may never buy another home Credit: Shutterstock
The actress sold her sprawling six-bedroom Devon farmhouse Credit: Shutterstock

She and husband Sam Farmer now rent a smaller home in Somerset, with Caroline saying they are perfectly happy to remain tenants.

Speaking to Saga, she said: “We’ve been in Somerset for just over a year, with a more manageable garden. We’re really happy. I don’t think we’ll buy again.”

Opening up about her former property, she added: “It had a two-acre vegetable garden, a two-acre orchard and a pool. The veg alone was exhausting.”

Caroline also revealed she auctioned off her art collection and jewellery after deciding possessions were no longer important to her.

QUAINT QUENTIN

Inside Strictly’s Caroline Quentin’s farmhouse home with 35 acres of land


WOKE FAIL

Men Behaving Badly could never be made for today’s woke TV, says Caroline Quentin

Caroline and Sam married in 2006 and share two grown-up children Credit: Can Nguyen
Caroline is best known for playing Dorothy in Men Behaving Badly Credit: Getty

She said: “Possessions aren’t important to me any more. I got rid of a lot of things two years ago. I took them to auction and sold them.

“I had quite a big art collection and a lot of jewellery, and I sold it all.

“Now we live in a rented house and I don’t have much stuff. That was very deliberate.”

It marks a change of heart for the actress, who previously said she and Sam hoped to buy a smaller cottage and create a new garden.

Speaking to Gardens Illustrated in February 2024, she said: “My big beautiful garden in Devon came with a big house and it was all getting a bit too much for me.

“My husband Sam and I are renting a lovely cottage in Somerset and are looking for a cottage nearby where I can start a new garden and a new gardening adventure.”

Caroline is best known for playing Dorothy in Nineties sitcom Men Behaving Badly, as well as starring in Jonathan Creek and Blue Murder.

She married Sam in 2006 and the couple share two grown-up children, Emily Rose and William.

Source link

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Dave Franco

In reality, Dave Franco has a strict routine for Sundays, one he takes very seriously. He and his wife, actor Alison Brie, stay in bed all day, watch four movies and Postmate every single meal. But for the sake of Sunday Funday, the actor, director and screenwriter gave us a hypothetical Sunday where they actually leave their house.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

The couple have lived in Los Feliz since 2012 and have bounced around to a few different spots in the neighborhood during that time. “We love that there are certain pockets that feel tucked away in nature where you don’t feel the buzz of the city,” Franco says, “but when you’re in the mood for a great meal or a night out, you’re still only a five-minute drive from all the action.”

Franco and Brie have collaborated on multiple projects, including the horror film “Together” (where they were the two leads) and the rom-com “Somebody That I Used to Know” (which he directed, she starred in and they co-wrote). Up next, Franco will roll solo as an actor and producer of the dark action comedy “Idiots,” out in theaters on Friday.

Sunday remains a day that he and Brie dedicate to being with each other. “No matter what else is happening in our lives or what we have coming up for that following week, we know we’re going to be together on Sunday,” Franco says. “Let’s spend the whole day together, let’s be connected, and it just resets us in a nice way for the week.”

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

7:30 a.m.: Coffee and doughnuts

I’ll set my alarm so I can roll out of bed and get to Maru Coffee right as it opens in an attempt to avoid the insane line that will inevitably snake down the entirety of Hillhurst Avenue. If I don’t want to wait in line, I’ll head to Dayglow in Silver Lake where some of my favorite baristas are generous enough to let me try whatever new concoction they’re experimenting with. But no matter where I end up, I’ll typically grab a cold brew for myself and an iced oat cappuccino for my wife.

If I’m feeling extra magnanimous, I’ll then drive to Proof Bakery in Atwater Village for our favorite croissants, or I’ll go all the way to Bob’s Donuts at the Farmers Market at the Grove and grab a couple of old-fashioned glazed.

Doughnuts on Sunday is a very important ritual for us. I legitimately think it’s a big reason our marriage has been so successful. We work hard and then we get to look forward to sharing something decadent at the end of each week.

11 a.m.: First movie of the day

After digesting our pastries, we will catch a late-morning movie at the Los Feliz 3, the Vista or the Landmark Sunset. When we get to the movie theater, Alison will ask whether we should get a small or large popcorn. I always reply, ‘Get the small. I don’t want any. I’m just going to have Red Vines.’ Inevitably, I’ll finish my Red Vines before the movie has even started and then Alison will begrudgingly allow me to have a few handfuls of her popcorn, but she is not happy about it. I’m not exaggerating when I say this happens every single time we go to the movies.

1:30 p.m.: Strictly vintage

After the movie, we might pop by Denim Revival in West Hollywood, which has the best vintage shopping in town. It’s a small curated collection, but if you’re into vintage Levi’s and old band T-shirts, this is your spot. My wife typically gets bored quickly in a vintage clothing store, but when I find her the perfect-fitting Tom Petty or John Lennon shirt, she perks right up.

Most of what’s in my closet is vintage. I can’t think of a T-shirt that I’ve worn in the past handful of years that wasn’t a vintage T-shirt. I have a pretty good collection at this point. I’m hitting all the different angles where I have anything from Beastie Boys to Jimi Hendrix to Britney Spears to Hansen.

I will definitely scour eBay or Grailed to find the perfect white T-shirt, which I have 10 of already, but it’s an endless search to expand that collection.

3 p.m.: Big Sur in L.A.

If we are in the mood for a pre-dinner snack, we’ll pop by the Trails cafe [in Griffith Park] for their famous egg in a basket, which is their take on the classic breakfast dish, toad in a hole. We’ll sit at Trails’ wooden benches surrounded by nature where it almost feels like we’re not in LA. It’s the closest we can get to Big Sur in Los Angeles.

We could sneak in a hike. We’ll sometimes start at an entrance across from the Greek Theatre, which will loop us all the way around past the [Griffith] Observatory and back to the Greek. We feel very fortunate that we live close to some very nice hikes in L.A., and so we definitely try to take advantage of that.

5 p.m.: Oysters, always

Even though we just ate, we are already thinking about where we should go for dinner. We like a very early dinner that verges on being a very late lunch. We’ll likely end up at Found Oyster. We’ll order a dozen oysters, a scallop tostada and a little steak frites if we’re feeling cheeky.

I’ve been an oyster person for as long as I can remember. I’m such an oyster person that I’ve actually gotten food poisoning twice in the past two years from oysters and I will not let that stop me. In both of those instances, I was begging for death — death would be better than whatever I was going through — and then a week and a half later I’m back fiending for more. But I’m not saying I got food poisoning from Found. I just want to make that clear.

7:30 p.m.: Time for another movie

The good thing about an early dinner is that you can be home and in bed by 7:30 p.m., where there’s still enough time to sneak in at least one more movie and some dessert.

We always try to have a pint of ice cream in our freezer from Henry’s Secret, which you can only order online for the time being. This is the guy who was making ice cream at Antico Nuovo for many years, which was always our favorite ice cream in L.A. And now he’s got his own little underground operation.

My wife is a massive [movie] re-watcher. She has seen “The American President” and “The Prestige” 150 times each, but I’ll always push to watch some hidden gem that’s been on our list for the past decade. She’s sometimes hesitant, then almost every time the movie finishes and she says, “I loved it.”

I’m not on Letterboxd. I have lists of movies that we want to watch in my Notes app on my phone. There are certain times where the list really grows, but we’ll knock them off pretty quickly because we really do try to watch one movie a night. When you’re doing that, you’re watching seven plus movies [a week] because on Sunday we’re watching multiple movies.

10 p.m.: Early bedtime

We go to bed relatively early. We’ll eventually fall asleep from food coma exhaustion and then we’ll wake up early the next morning to hit the gym and get back to a somewhat healthy routine, until the following weekend of more gluttonous excess.



Source link