An Italian painting stolen by the Nazis
from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam
has been spotted on the website of an
estate agent selling a house in
Argentina more than 80 years after it
was taken. An online photo shows
portrait of a lady by Jeppi Galandi
hanging above a sofa inside a property
near Buenazeres once owned by a senior
Nazi official who moved to South America
after the Second World War. The artwork
is among hundreds looted from the studio
of Jacqu Goutsticker after he was lost
at sea while trying to escape to
Britain. Well, let's speak now to Sirill
Rosman, one of the team of journalists
at the Dutch newspaper AD who've been
investigating the whereabouts of the
looted paintings uh in fact
investigating them Sirill uh for more
than 10 years. So tell us how you came
to discover it. Obviously, it hasn't
been examined in detail. Um, but how did
you come to discover the whereabouts of
the painting in question?
>> Yeah, we researching on the the the
senior Nazi official for like 10 years.
Um, he fled to South America after the
war and we have been trying to get in
contact with his daughters who are still
living in Argentina for the last few
years. Um, but they didn't want to talk
to us. So, a few weeks ago, we decided
to give it a last chance and to send our
South America correspondent
uh to the house of the daughter and he
knocked on the door. Um, but she didn't
open it, but he was so keen to see that
the house was on sale. Um, and then we
uh found the house on the the website of
real estate agent. We scrolled through
all the interior pics and there uh there
it was on one of the pictures uh one of
the missing paintings.
What an astonishing moment because the
Dutch government has been looking for
this painting for 80 years. You and your
colleagues have been looking for it for
10 years and there it is above a sofa uh
in a picture on an estate agent's
website.
>> Yeah, that was it was kind of a wow
moment. I mean, if you're looking for
it, you're not expecting it to to see it
just above the sofa in a in a living
room. Um, sometimes that's the way it it
goes. It was brilliant to to to see it.
>> And tell us a little bit more about this
painting.
>> Yeah, it's a a painting made by Italian
painter Gizep Gizli in the um the 7th
century.
Um, and it was looted. Uh, it was in the
um, collection of a Jewish uh, art
collector in Amsterdam um, before the
war. This man Jacer
um, fled the Netherlands just after the
German invasion and he died uh, while
flying the Netherlands. Um and then his
collection which was over a thousand art
pieces of art um was left in Amsterdam
and uh it was looted by a lot of German
top officials
and some of the pieces returned to the
Netherlands after the war and were
returned to the Gauser family but a lot
of them are still missing.
>> And we're nearly out of time for this
interview but briefly what happens next?
Um, the police went to the house of the
uh the daughter in uh in Argentina. Um,
but the picture wasn't there anymore.
Uh, I think we think they that the
family hi has it in hiding somewhere and
the Argentina police is is investigating
the case.
>> Okay. Um, Sirill, thank you very much
for talking to us about an extraordinary
investigation. Sirill Rosman, one of the
team of journalists from the Dutch
newspaper AD, appreciate your time.