MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Milwaukee art gallery owner Bill DeLind never thought he would see the Pablo Picasso etching print stolen from his shop in 2018 ever again.
Until the police called last week and asked if he could come take a look at a piece of art a Milwaukee landlord had found while cleaning out a vacant apartment.
DeLind immediately recognized the stolen “Torero” print, one of 30 known to exist signed by Picasso.
“I was overwhelmed,” DeLind said Friday. “I was at a loss for words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”
The sticker from his DeLind Fine Art Appraisals was still on the back of the framed print, just has it had been placed there in 2018.
“It was indeed mine,” DeLind said. “It came back full circle.”
Milwaukee landlord Tim Dertz told WISN-TV that he found the print while cleaning out an apartment of someone who had been evicted.
“It was kind of in a weird spot hanging on a wall,” Tim 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. A spokesperson for the FBI in Milwaukee did not immediately return a message seeking 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.”