Painting Looted by Nazis Located in Descendant’s Home
A shocking family discovery led to the identification of a long-lost stolen painting.
Over 70 years after the end of World War II, efforts to locate artworks stolen by the Nazis and return them to their owners’ families are still ongoing. One painting from the largest looted collection, that of Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker, has been located in Goudstikker’s home country of the Netherlands.
The painting, “Portrait of a Young Girl” by Dutch modern artist Toon Kelder (1894-1973), came into the possession of Hendrik Seyffardt, a Dutch general who collaborated with the Nazis during their occupation of the Netherlands. He was killed by the Resistance in 1943, and the painting remained in his family.
After learning the truth about his family and the painting, one of Seyffardt’s descendants contacted Dutch art detective Arthur Brand through an intermediary. After months of work, Brand confirmed the story. He determined that the painting had been sold in an auction of looted art in 1940, identifying it by a label and a mark on its frame.
The descendant who approached Brand, who wished to stay anonymous, told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, “I feel deep shame about the family's past and am furious about the years of silence. The painting must return to the Jewish rightful heirs.”
Other family members claim that they did not know the painting was looted; although Seyffardt’s granddaughter is said to have told relatives that she knew, and that the painting could not be sold.
Lawyers for Goudstikker’s heirs are calling for restitution, but, because of the statute of limitations, there is little that the authorities can do.
Jacques Goudstikker (1897-1940) was one of the leading art dealers in the Netherlands between the two World Wars. He started working in his father’s art gallery in Amsterdam in 1919 and eventually accumulated a celebrated collection of paintings that focused on Dutch Old Masters. When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Goudstikker escaped the country with his wife and their infant son, leaving behind his collection of over 1,000 paintings. Nazi official Hermann Göring took the entire collection.
Tragically, Goudstikker died while crossing the English Channel. After World War II ended, his widow dedicated herself to recovering the paintings, a long, difficult process. It wasn’t until 2006, a decade after her death, that 202 of the paintings, which had been given to the Dutch government after the war, were returned to the family.
Occasionally, individual paintings that belonged to Goudstikker are discovered in private collections. Last year, another one, “Portrait of a Lady” by 18th-century Italian painter Giuseppe Ghislandi, was recovered from a home in Argentina after it was spotted in a photo in a real estate listing.
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