Long-lost painting looted by Nazis recovered after it was spotted in a real estate listing

It took 80 years to track down followed by a week of international intrigue, but a long-lost 18th century painting looted by the Nazis has now been recovered after it was spotted in a recent Argentinian real estate listing.

It took 80 years to track down followed by a week of international intrigue, but a long-lost 18th century painting looted by the Nazis has now been recovered after it was spotted in a recent Argentinian real estate listing.

The “Portrait of a Lady,” which belonged to a prominent Jewish art collector before it was stolen during World War II, is now in the hands of authorities, officials in the South American nation said Wednesday.

The full-length portrait of Countess Colleoni by Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi “was part of the Goudstikker Collection, comprising more than 1,100 works of art. Jacques Goudstikker, a Jewish art dealer, died in 1940 while fleeing the Nazis,” the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands told NBC News in a written statement.

It had not been seen publicly in 80 years, but it resurfaced after it was spotted on a real estate website last month, hanging above a velvet sofa in a virtual tour of a property for sale in the coastal town of Mar del Plata, about 160 miles south of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires.

On Wednesday, the portrait of the countess, in a flower-embroidered dress and in a golden frame, was sitting in a nearby federal prosecutor’s office.