Art's 'Indiana Jones' Logs His 'Most Bizarre Case' Yet

The art world's "Indiana Jones" has uncovered a new Nazi-looted artwork, describing it as "the most bizarre case of my entire career." Art detective Arthur Brand says Portrait of a Young Girl by Dutch painter Toon Kelder, once part of a collection belonging to Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker of Amsterdam, was discovered in the home of a Dutch SS general's descendants, per the Guardian. It reportedly spent decades with the family of Hendrik Seyffardt, one of the Netherlands' most prominent Nazi collaborators, before a relative came forward in shame.

Upon learning of his ancestry, the grandson of Seyffardt's granddaughter had asked about a painting hanging in her home and was reportedly told it was "Jewish looted art," the BBC reports. Believing the painting should be returned to Goudstikker's heirs, the man contacted Brand, who discovered the portrait had been sold in a 1940 auction after Goudstikker fled to England. Dutch authorities and the country's Restitutions Committee say they cannot force a handover because the statute of limitations has expired and the work is privately owned. Brand says public exposure is now the best hope for getting the portrait back to the family from whom it was taken.