Still Life with Guitar (1919) by Pablo Ruiz Picasso 12.7cm by 9.8cm Paper, Gouache & Pencil

A privately-owned Pablo Picasso painting, Still Life with Guitar (1919), has mysteriously vanished while being transported from Madrid to Granada for inclusion in an exhibition, prompting a police investigation into what appears to be a carefully orchestrated theft.

The gouache and lead pencil painting, insured for €600,000, ten times its estimated market value, was being loaned to Bodegón: La eternidad de lo inerte (Still Life: The Eternity of the Inanimate), an exhibition of 58 still life works from the 17th century and the 20th century, two key time periods in the still life genre.  The exhibition, organised by the CajaGranada Foundation in collaboration with CaixaBank, opened on 9 October and is set to run through 11 January 2026 and traces a journey of these works from the Flemish Baroque through to the Post Cubist period.

Unfortunately, when exhibition staff at the Centro Cultural CajaGranada-Motril  began unpacking the shipping crates to begin the installation they discovered that the Picasso work on paper was not among the other objects inventoried. 

The painting, loaned from a private Madrid collection had been packed on September 25 and departed the capital on October 2 in a van escorted by two couriers.  The brief, four-hour journey appears to have taken a puzzling turn as the couriers are said to have made an unusual overnight stop at 8:30 pm in Deifontes, a small town just 23 short kilometres north of the destination city, Granada.

Quoted in news articles,  Deifontes mayor Paco Abril Tenorio, said the decision by the drivers to stop overnight was “very strange.” “Granada is just over a quarter of an hour from here,” he told ABC newspaper. “I don’t understand why they had to stop here to spend the night.”

The couriers reportedly took turns sleeping inside the vehicle to guard their high-value cargo, which had a total insured value exceeding €6 million.  Their detour however, was not part of the agreed-upon itinerary and is now part of the focus of the police inquiry.

The van is said to have arrived at the CajaGranada-Motril Cultural Center the next morning, where the artworks were unloaded in a video-monitored surveillance zone and signed in by the exhibition manager.  However, because the crates were not individually numbered, staff were unable to confirm whether all items matched the shipment list without opening them. The boxes remained sealed under surveillance throughout the weekend, and it was only when curators began installation on Monday that Still Life with Guitar was discovered missing.

The foundation immediately alerted police, who are reviewing security footage and route logs to determine whether the disappearance occurred during the Deifontes stop, in transit, or after the paintings' arrival in Granada. No arrests have yet been made.

The theft adds to a long history of high-profile Picasso disappearances. His works—coveted by collectors and art thieves alike—are among the most frequently stolen in the world, with the Art Loss Register ranking the artist as the world’s most frequently stolen artist, with 1,147 missing works reported. 

As investigators continue their search, Still Life with Guitar joins a troubling catalogue of missing Picassos—reminders of both the artist’s enduring allure and the persistent vulnerability of cultural treasures in transit.

Five ornate snuff boxes stolen in a 2024 museum heist in France have been recovered.  Made of gold, precious stones, mother-of-pearl and enamel and valued at over €1M, the items had been stolen on 20 November 2024 from the Musée Cognacq-Jay, located in the Marais neighbourhood of the 3rd arrondissement of Paris.                                                                                     On that date, four individuals, armed with axes and baseball bats, burst into the museum during "Luxe de poche. Petits objets précieux au siècle des Lumières," a temporary exhibition showcasing a variety of intricate boxes representative of the Age of Enlightenment,  while the museum's patrons could do nothing but stand and watch.  Wearing gloves and having donned hoods and helmets to conceal their identities, the daylight smash-and-grab team bashed open a single display case containing high-value jewel boxes loaned for the event from the Château de Versailles, the Musée du Louvre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Palais Galliera, the English Royal Collections and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

In and out before police could arrive, the culprits made a hasty getaway on scooters, driving off into Paris traffic with a total of seven bejewelled boxes, 

Which five boxes have been recovered?

This gold snuff box dating from the 18th century and encrusted with agate cabochons made by Johann Christian Neuber, a famous Dresden goldsmith known for his gold Steinkabinettabatiere.  This object had been on loan from the Musée du Louvre. 

This snuff box made of agate plates dating from 1760-1770, with hard stone reliefs, joined by a gold cage mount, and a lid encrusted with numerous brilliant-cut diamonds,  was made by Daniel Baudesson, and also on loan from the Musée du Louvre. 

This chrysoprase snuffbox was made in Berlin, Germany, in c. 1765and is associated with Frederick II, the Great, of Prussia (1712-1786). Its been previously on display at the Somerset House as part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

This diamond-encrusted, varicoloured-gold snuffbox, decorated with figures in neo-classical landscapes was once gifted to Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800), by Catherine II during the Russian smallpox epidemic of 1768.  part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Police are still searching for:

This 16th century gold and lapis cartouche shaped snuff box with a cameo of the Birth of Venus Cameo from the UK's Royal Trust. 

Another snuff box made by Johann Christian Neuber, this one from c. 1780 which combined his own technique of Zellenmosaik, or mosaic of hardstones set into gold collets, with the technique of Roman micromosaics only then recently developed.  It is part of the Gilbert Collection ©,  The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

For now, the police and prosecutors remain tight-lipped on when or with whom these pieces were retrieved, but for now at least there has been some positive movement in the investigation. 

Christie's 2019 Auction

In November 2019, ARCA published a blog post raising questions about a 5th-century BCE polychrome antefix depicting a dancing maenad, which had been consigned to a Christie’s auction and that I believed the piece warranted closer scrutiny. For those unfamiliar, an antefix is a decorative architectural element once placed along the eaves of ancient roofs to conceal the joints between tiles.

What drew my attention was the striking resemblance between the object at right and three other Etruscan antefixes, also portraying maenads, that had previously been repatriated to Italy after being identified as having been illegal excavated and removed from Italy.

The provenance of the previous, 2019-consigned, antefix up for auction at Christie's read:

Provenance:

"with Ingrid McAlpine (1939-2018), London and Epsom, 1994". 

In terms of its circulation history, that sparse entry left roughly 2,500 years unaccounted for as nothing prior to 1994 was specified.  Knowing a bit about the consignor's background, I knew, that before her death, Ingrid McAlpine had been married to the ancient art dealer Bruce McAlpine, and that prior to their divorce, both were listed as proprietors of McAlpine Ancient Art Limited in the United Kingdom.

The McAlpines’ names have surfaced in connection with other trafficked antiquities that passed through the legitimate art market. Among these is an Attic black-figured hydria which reached the McAlpines through Palladion Antike Kunst, a gallery operated by disgraced dealer Gianfranco Becchina. Their names also appear alongside the red flag names of Robin Symes and Barbara and Lawrence Fleischman, in relation to the donation of a looted Apulian bell-krater, both objects of which were later restituted to Italy. 

Villa Giulia, 1937 Excavation

If you look carefully, by her feet you can make out the hoof of the Silenos this lady would have been dancing with.  

This detail is remarkably similar to the antefix in the form of a Maenad and Silenos Dancing which once graced the cover of the exhibition catalog A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleishman.  

After careful restoration that antefix was first seen on the market with Robert Hecht who sold it to the Hunt collection.  Next it was circulated via Sotheby's with that collection was liquidated and bought by Robin Symes, who immediately resold it to the Fleischmanns.  In1994 the couple exhibited the piece , along with their entire collection, at the J. Paul Getty Museum, before it was formally acquired by   the museum in 1996 (96.AD.33).  The piece was restituted to Italy after it was matched by Daniela Rizzo and Maurizio Pellegrino to a polaroid in the Giacomo Medici archive.  Like the one up for sale at Christie's now, both artefacts were broken along the lower half and when whole, depicted a Silenos dancing behind the Maenad.

Now let's look at the provenance the auction house has cited.

Elsa Bloch-Diener (1922–2012) was a Swiss art dealer who operated a gallery at Kramgasse 60 in the old town of Bern.  She is known to have collaborated with Ines Jucker (née Scherrer, 1922-2013), the scholar and sometimes ancient art dealer responsible for the exhibition catalogue Italy of the Etruscans, cited in the Christie’s lot description as an exhibition where this piece was on view to the public. 

Jucker not only authenticated works for Bloch-Diener but also curated the 1991 Etruscan exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem referenced in the Christie's sale.  Also contributing to that exhibition's catalogue were entries by Giovannangelo Camporeale, Fiorella Cottier-Angeli, George Ortiz, and Christoph Reusser, names that have, at times, prompted debate and concern within the field.

In May 2002, when Swiss and Italian authorities raided Gianfranco Becchina's Antike Kunst Palladion, as well as three of Becchina’s storage facilities in Basel, authorities seized documents which identified transactions between the Sicilian and Ines Jucker which documented that she purchased artefacts from this dealer and sold them onwards.

Along the same theme Jucker studied an Attic Red-Figured calyx krater signed by Syriskos (painter); donated by Lawrence Fleischman and his wife to the J. Paul Getty Museum which had been acquired from Robin Symes in 1988.  Pictured on Medici Polaroid it was restituted to Italy.   Likewise a Black-Figure Cup Fragment with the Capture of Silenus in the Tondo which Jucker sold to Dietrich von Bothmer was also returned to Italy.

In the Israel exhibition Jucker curated, which featured the antefix up for auction and identified it as coming from the ancient site of Veio, some four hundred Etruscan objects were presented, none of large format, some with an inscriptions.  Among them were small bronzes, ceramics, jewellery, terracottas (architectural, votive, and cinerary urns), and sculptural fragments in nenfro.  In total they represented all periods and regions of Etruscan art. 

The main nucleus of the Israel displayed ensemble came from the collection of the late Ivor and Flora Svarc, many of whose holdings would be donated to the Israel Museum.  Svarc's objects were complemented by pieces already in Israeli collections, along with loans from the collector-dealer Jonathan Rosen and other private collectors, mainly in Switzerland.  

As cited by Drs David Gill and Christopher Chippindale in Material Consequences of Contemporary Classical Collecting the vast majority of the artefacts exhibited during this exhibition were previously unpublished.  This made this public display of the items their first concretising stop towards having an art marketable pedigree. 

The fact that we know this object comes from the context of Veio, can also be found in the same catalogue as the restituted Getty atefix, A Passion for Antiquities: Ancient Art from the Collection of Barbara and Lawrence Fleishman.

Page 197 refers specifically to the artefact currently up for auction:

A number of fragmentary examples of antefixes of this type, as well as of molds for producing them, have come to light at Civita Castellana (Falerii) (see Andrén; Sprenger/Bartoloni), finds which clearly prove their local manufacture. But the votive deposit of Campetti at Veii has yielded the head of a silenos of identical type and made of Veian clay (see Vagnetti 1971), which led P. J. Riis to suggest that this type of antefix was invented at Veii. The lower half of an antefix of this type with a provenance from Veii is in a private collection in Switzerland (see Jucker), and similar fragments have recently been excavated in Rome (see Cristo fani). 

With that in mind, it is necessary to return to the same question previously directed at Christie’s: 

On what evidentiary basis, supported by what verifiable documentation, did the auction house authorise the consignment of this artefact?  In the absence of any demonstrable chain of custody or export records, the decision to green-light its sale raises serious concerns regarding the robustness of the auction house’s internal due diligence procedures.

In this case, the question is not rhetorical but fundamental. Is Christie’s in possession of any concrete paperwork supporting the legitimacy of this Dancing Maenad’s appearance on the market, or was the absence of evidence simply overlooked given its publication in an exhibition, in the hope that the object’s passage through the auction process would escape closer scrutiny.

In examining the case of Nazi SS officer Friedrich Gustav Kadgien’s paintings, ARCA has been piecing together a troubling picture.  Earlier, we discussed photographs shared on social media by his daughter, Patricia Kadgien.  In this article we will take a closer look at some of the images we have been analysing, along with others we have explored as this case hit the public airwaves.

In our initial forway into the life Kadgien, ARCA grabbed a number of photos from Patricia Kadgien's Facebook page before she and other members of the family set their socials to private.  Three of them, varying in quality, captured a still life oil painting, but only partially in view, as in each photo the painting was obscured by  people in the frame.  

Despite this, key details, such as the cluster of peaches aligned perfectly with the known description, as well as the black and white photo, of the missing painting on record in the Dutch archive. 

As you can see by the date stamp in this photo, Kadgien's daughter uploaded this family portrait to her social media profile on 1 September 2011. It cannot be confirmed that this photo was actually taken in 2011, only that it was uploaded in 2011 as Facebook retains all metadata and adds more, but none of it is available to any end users who might download said image. 

Fast forward to yesterday's Argentinian news reports discussing the fact that there is a remarkably similar artwork in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires.  That artwork has been attributed to a Dutch still-life painter from the northern Netherlands named Rachel Ruysch, not Mignon, who was just a teenager when the older still life painter died. 

Having said that, it is important to note that the attribution of a painting is seldom a definitive process in the absence of a signature or other reliable documentation, and may be reassessed at any stage.  The work in question might have arrived to Argentina from Europe or elsewhere, possibly identified (whether correctly or not), as a painting made by Mignon, and subsequently reattributed thorough study at the museum, or perhaps even earlier by research commissioned by its painting's previous owner.  

Combing through a series of open source websites and archives, we were able to find multiple uploaded images of the "Ruysch-named" painting in the museum's oak-cladded antecámara.  Unfortunately, the earliest instance we have of corresponding images of said work, in said placement inside the museum, date back to 2007 four years before Patricia Kadgein uploaded a still life image to her Facebook profile.

 

In the photos we found or the antecámara, posted the 2000s, the center of the room is occupied by a sculpture by Joseph Pollet. On both sides of the entrance doors are two Dutch oil paintings: the Portrait of a Gentleman by J. C. Verspronck and the Still Life by Rachel Ruysch.  The latter of which also appears in a 2003 museum publication, without a photo or provenance, stating that the Ruysch painting was donated in 1960.   

Other sources state that the painting was bequeathed in 1962 and 1964. 

What is the actual donation date?

The first time the Wayback Machine captures a description of this artwork on the  museum's own web page was saved on 8 April 2008.  On said page, the museum discusses at length, the artist and the subject of the painting, but omits any provenance details or who bequeathed the painting.  Curiously though, it lists the oil painting's dimensions as "0.68 m x 0.65 m., which is practically a square. 

Outlined in blue for comparison are the dimensions of the stolen Mignon-attributed painting registered in the Netherlands (outlined in red).  In blue we have listed the sized attributed to the Rachel Ruysch painting by the museum. As is plainly visible, there is a rather substantial proportion discrepancy in the size documented on the museum's web page.  And while the Mignon-attributed painting archived with the RCE is recorded as matching in height, the painting in Argentina is slightly wider.  If the two paintings are a match, then perhaps the stolen painting was measured previously using the dimensions inside its frame at the time. 

Using the same overlay technique, and a clearer image of the painting straight on, we can compare both the frame of the painting in the museum's antecámara and the frame of the painting from Patricia Kadgien's Facebook page. 

We can also compare other images the museum uploaded in 2020 of the entire "Ruysch-named" painting, contrasting them with the black and white photo in the archive of the painting archived with the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed in the Netherlands. 

Side by side we can see that both paintings depict the same identical subject. But proportionately could they be one and the same?  To examine the artwork further, ARCA overlayed the RCE's black and white photo with one of the museum's more recent medium resolution images.

We again repeated the process using as smaller photograph uploaded to the museum's socials which captured a close up of the painting's peaches, bird's nest, and lizard.

In our humble opinion, we suspect that this.is.clearly.the.same.painting,  

regardless of which artist the painting has been attributed to.  

Taking our hypothesis one step further, and  also looked at historic photos.  

This 1918 archive photograph of the Errázuriz Palace, (where the museum is located) doesn't show the still life painting in question in the antecámara of the residence, once owned by the Chilean ambassador to Argentina.  Matias Errazuriz, lived in the mansion with his wife Josefina de Alvear before the property was gifted to the state. 

Nor is the still life to be found in archival photos which show objects from the original Errázuriz family collection which were to become part of the founding purchase by the nation when the mansion was transferred over to the Argentina via the National Assembly of the Autonomous Communities when the museum opened in 1937.

What we did not find was any open source documentation or images that confirm that this painting was part of the museum's collection from the time of its purported donation in 1960, 1962 or 1964, until its first contemporary appearance in digital photos and on the museum's website from the 2000s.  Where are the photos over that 40 year interim? 

Unanswered questions, at least for now

Are there any photos of the Still Life by Rachel Ruysch from the time of its donation until the 2000s? 

What confirmatory paperwork does the Museo de Arte Decorativo have that concretises when their painting's donation actually occurred.

What confirmatory paperwork does the Museo de Arte Decorativo have that demonstrates the artwork's ownership history, and from whose hands it pasted from the time of its creation through to the date of the museum's aquisiton?

What details does the Museo de Arte Decorativo have on the donor of the Still Life by Rachel Ruysch painting, and what was this person's relationship to the museum, and what (if any) does this individual or their family have with problematic works of art in circulation during, or after, World War II. 

Is there a link between this painting's arrival in Argentina and the Kadgien family’s activities in Argentina before or after the war?

For now, we are left with more questions than clarity. But one thing is clear: this is not just a story about one contested painting that the Kadgien family kept, despite its reprehensible past. Nor is it even about one family. 

It is emblematic of a broader, unresolved legacy. The postwar years saw countless works of art wrenched away from their rightful owners under duress which were subsequently laundered into “respectable” collections, sometimes even into public museums and institutions. Too often, provenance was overlooked in favour of prestige.

And so, decades later, we are still asking uncomfortable questions. How many of these works remain hidden in plain sight, misattributed, or deliberately misrepresented?  How many institutions prefer to avert their eyes rather than confront their own role in housing suspect objects which might have ties to Nazi looting? 

On principle alone, the opportunity exists, even belatedly, for families and museum personnel to reckon with these histories. To ignore that is to perpetuate the sins of the past.

Egyptian authorities report the seizure of 577 artefacts in the Minya governorate in Upper Egypt, spanning the Middle Kingdom, Late Period, and Greco-Roman eras of ancient Egyptian history. 

The operation was conducted by the General Administration of Tourism and Antiquities Investigations, coordinated with the Public Security Sector and the Criminal Investigation Department, under the oversight of senior law enforcement officers Major General Mohamed Ragab and Major General Mohamed Zein. As a result of this investigation, a search warrant was executed not far from Lotus University at the residence of Islam A.M., an appliance dealer.  This resulted in the recovery of this large grouping of artefacts ,as well as the arrest of their intended seller, whose name was not given in full.

The ancient objects seized include this decorated 60-centimeter painted and gessoed wooden statue of a woman carrying offerings on her head, a cylindrical wooden image of Bes, the fertility god, and a basalt statue of Horus, missing its head from ancient erosion. 

Other notable objects include a painted pottery statue, and a green stone carving depicting four women.  Wood and faience ushabti figures suggest that at least some of the artefacts were looted from funerary contexts. 

In addition to these, 503 silver and bronze coins, were discovered, pointing to a diverse cache of both ritual and utilitarian items. 

According to Egyptian news sites, preliminary evaluation by antiquities inspectors confirm the authenticity of the artefacts seized as well as their protection under Egypt’s Antiquities Protection Law No. 117 of 1983. 

Like many such cases, the looter's intent was to sell the objects on the black market, where demand for Egyptian antiquities internationally remains high, forcing looters to plunder remote locations or utilise creative means to avoid having their illicit excavation activities detected.

In 2024 residents of Minya Governorate, especially those who bury their contemporary loved ones in the cemeteries in Zawiyat Sultan, Al-Matahira, and the Cairo-Assiut Desert Road, complained to the authorities that thieves were stealing the metal doors of tombs and that graves were being broken into.  It was discovered that gaining access to these modern internment spaces allowed looters to dig deep holes undetected in search of antiquities. 

The richness of the Minya Governorate is well known. In April 2017, Nedjemankh’s famous golden coffin flew to New York on American Airlines after it was looted from the Minya region in October 2011. 

In 2016, A'srāwy Kāmel Jād, a site guard was shot dead by looters, while a second watchman, Ali Khalaf Shāker, who was also on duty was gravely wounded and succumbed to his injuries later.  The pair had been on duty protecting Deir el-Bersha an archaeological site located on the east bank of the Nile, south of Hermopolis, which is part of the same governorate. 

For those thinking of taking up looting as a hobby, it should be remembered that Article 41 of Egypt's antiquities law stipulates that anyone who smuggles an antiquity out of the country or participates in smuggling it shall be punished by hard labor and a fine of no less than 5,000 Egyptian pounds and no more than 50,000 Egyptian pounds. Article 42 stipulates that anyone who steals or conceals an antiquity or part of an antiquity owned by a state shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of no less than 5 years.

The case began after Dutch reporters announced they had identified the stolen painting from a published real estate photo which depicted the artwork hanging inside Patricia Kadgien's residence at Padre Cardiel 4152 in the Mar del Plata neighbourhood.  Around the same time, a complaint from the Customs Collection and Control Agency attached to the Buenos Aires Customs House was opened for the alleged crime of concealing smuggling, and a search of the property was authorised by the Mar del Plata Court of Guarantees No. 2 at the request of Carlos Martínez, a prosecutor with the Federal Court's Office for Simple Crimes. 

According to Argentine law, search warrants of this type must be notified, at the time of their execution, to the owner or possessor, or failing that, to any adult present at the premises, preferably the relatives of the former, inviting them to witness said search.  This explains the presence of Patricia Mónica Kadgien and Juan Carlos Cortegoso's lawyer over the five hours when the Mar del Plata Special Investigations Unit executed their search at the home.

Once the house search had been carried out, the prosecutor was required to draw up a report recording the outcome of the search, noting all circumstances that may be of importance to the case.  This report was then signed by all those involved in the search.

As we know from journalistic reports last week, by this point in time the family had intentionally moved the stolen painting elsewhere, replacing its place on the wall with a large carpet.

In a statement given to the daily Spanish-language newspaper La Capital, by the family's attorney, Murias, said "Technically, the painting is being filed as a result of a judicial process. It is being filed in the Civil Court, which we consider competent to resolve this matter, not in the Criminal Court, in the context of an alleged complaint filed by Arca for a crime that my client is allegedly being charged with for 'covering up smuggling..."

Yesterday, Patricia Kadgien and her husband were placed under house arrest for 72 hours while the case remained under investigation by federal prosecutor Carlos Martínez.  Police confirm an additional three searches have been carried out at addresses in and around Buenos Aires, including one at an apartment located at Calle Santa Fe 1700.  In the interim, the judge assigned to this case has ordered that the summary of these actions be kept sealed for 48 hours, meaning we will have to wait to know what details and evidence was found during these other searches at homes linked to Kadgien and the couple’s relatives.

As of now, neither Friedrich Kadgien's daughter nor his son in law, has been charged in the criminal court with obstructing a police investigation for what appears, at least  on the surface, to have been the intentional removal of the Ghislandi painting to impede its seizure.  Yet, the deeper question persists: why continue to shield and deny, when the opportunity exists to make amends? Especially given Patricia Kadgien was just thirteen when her father died. 

On principle alone, one might expect her or her sister Alicia Maria Kadgien to step forward, to repudiate the sins of their father, and to return what was stolen.  Imagine having the chance to reconcile, even in a small way, with history’s injustices, and the things your family did, only to choose instead to perpetuate them.

3 September 2025 Update: Argentina’s Federal Attorney General Daniel Adler announced that the painting  "Portrait of a Lady" stolen from Jacques Goudstikker has been placed under protection after Argentine Judge Patricia Noemí Juárez, of the 11th Civil Court, held that after analyzing the elements incorporated into the case and a hearing held with the Federal Prosecutor, "I must conclude that the ordinary jurisdiction is not competent to intervene in a case where the Federal Justice is ultimately pursuing the seizure of a work of art with an alleged illicit origin."