Stolen Artwork Resurfaces After Decades in Family Possession
A rare painting stolen by Nazis during World War II has resurfaced in the home of descendants of Hendrik Seyffardt, a notorious Dutch SS collaborator. The artwork, Portrait of a Young Girl by Dutch artist Toon Kelder, was long believed missing but was found hanging in the family residence, according to renowned art detective Arthur Brand.
Artwork Once Owned by Prominent Jewish Collector Jacques Goudstikker
The portrait originally belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer who fled the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands and tragically died in exile. Goudstikker’s vast collection of over 1,000 paintings was looted by the Nazis, with many works still unaccounted for today.
Brand revealed that the painting was handed over to his team after being discovered in the Seyffardt family home, where it had hung for decades. The revelation came after a family member, who learned of his relation to Seyffardt, contacted Brand out of disgust upon realizing the painting’s dark provenance.
Family’s Dark Past and Admission
Hendrik Seyffardt was a Dutch general who led a Waffen-SS volunteer unit on the Eastern Front before his assassination by resistance fighters in 1943. The descendant confronted his grandmother about the painting’s history, and she confessed it had been acquired during World War II, describing it as “Jewish looted art, stolen from Goudstikker.” She warned that the painting was unsellable and urged secrecy.
The family, which changed its surname after the war, has acknowledged possession of the painting but denies awareness of its true origins, according to statements given to Dutch media outlets.
