A painting missing since the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands was found decades later inside the home of family members of a former collaborator of the German regime. The discovery involves the work “Portrait of a Young Girl”, by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, and has reignited discussions about the fate of pieces looted during the Second World War.
The case came to light after art detective Arthur Brand received contact from a man who claimed to be a descendant of Hendrik Seyffardt, a Dutch general linked to the Waffen-SS, the military wing of the Nazi SS. According to Brand, he reported to BBCthe descendant would have recently discovered the origin of the work kept by the family since the war period.
According to the report published by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, the relatives changed their surname after the end of the conflict and kept the story of the situation secret for decades. The man said he was shocked to discover the painting’s connection with the looting carried out by the Nazi regime.
“I feel ashamed. The painting must be returned to Goudstikker’s heirs,” the descendant told the newspaper.
The work originally belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, one of the biggest art dealers in Europe before the invasion of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. A Jew, Goudstikker died in 1940 while trying to escape to England. After his death, thousands of pieces from his collection were confiscated, sold or diverted during the German advance on the continent.
According to Arthur Brand, the painting was identified after analyzing marks found on the back of the canvas. The investigator located a label and the number 92 on the back of the work and decided to cross-reference the information with historical records from an auction held in 1940.
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In the files consulted by the detective, the code corresponded precisely to the missing painting by Toon Kelder. Brand also states that the work previously passed through the hands of Hermann Göring, commander of the Luftwaffe and one of the main high-ranking Nazi leaders.
For the investigator, keeping the piece within the Seyffardt family prolonged for decades a situation that could have been corrected earlier. “For decades, the family who evidently bear no personal blame for Seyffardt’s crimes had the opportunity to do the right thing and return this painting. They chose not to,” he said.
The reappearance of the painting reinforces the still unresolved dimension of the art market linked to the Nazi period. International estimates indicate that thousands of works looted during the Second World War remain missing or in legal disputes involving heirs, collectors and governments.
The name of Jacques Goudstikker has recently returned to the center of these investigations. In 2025, another work that was part of his collection was found in similar circumstances in Argentina, inside a residence that had belonged to a former employee of the Nazi regime who took refuge in South America after the end of the war.
