For years, Milwaukee art dealer Bill DeLind believed the Picasso print taken from his gallery in 2018 had disappeared for good.
That changed last week when police reached out with an unexpected request: They wanted him to examine a piece of art discovered by a local landlord while clearing out an empty apartment.
DeLind knew almost instantly what he was looking at. It was the stolen “Torero” print, one of only 30 known signed copies by Pablo Picasso.
“I was overwhelmed,” DeLind said Friday. “I was at a loss for words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”
The confirmation was unmistakable: A sticker from DeLind Fine Art Appraisals remained on the back of the framed print, exactly where it had been placed before the 2018 theft.
“It was indeed mine,” DeLind said. “It came back full circle.”
Milwaukee landlord Tim Dertz told WISN-TV he came across the artwork while cleaning out the apartment of a tenant who had been evicted.
“It was kind of in a weird spot hanging on a wall,” Dertz told the station. “It looked like it had been there for a long, long time because it had tons of dust across the top of it.”
Dertz said he showed it to an antique dealer friend who recognized it as a Picasso and said it appeared to be the one DeLind reported stolen in 2018.
Dertz handed it over to police, who then contacted DeLind.
“When they called me, I was in disbelief,” DeLind said.
The Milwaukee Police Department said in an email Friday that the statute of limitations for theft and property crimes is generally six years but the case remains under investigation.
Caroline Clancy, a spokesperson for the FBI in Milwaukee, declined to comment.
The year it was stolen the piece was appraised at between $35,000 and $50,000, DeLind said.
He guessed that the value hasn’t changed much since then, but now given its story it may be worth closer to $50,000.
The artwork remains in possession of Milwaukee police while the client who had commissioned it for sale with his art gallery works it out with his insurance company, DeLind said.
DeLind said his former business partner, who died in February, was distraught over the theft in 2018 and called police every year on the anniversary of the crime asking that they publicize it again in the hope the Picasso could be found.
“He would have been over the moon about this,” DeLind said. “It was special to him.”
