A rare Pablo Picasso etching stolen from a Milwaukee art gallery in 2018 has been recovered after a local landlord found the framed artwork hanging in a vacant apartment following an eviction. The piece, valued between $35,000 and $50,000, is now in police custody as investigators probe its eight-year disappearance.
Gallery owner Bill DeLind thought the artwork was gone for good. Then came a telephone call from law enforcement asking him to inspect a piece recovered by a property owner cleaning out an empty rental unit.
The Landlord’s Discovery in a Vacant Milwaukee Apartment
Milwaukee landlord Tim Dertz stumbled upon the artwork while clearing out the apartment of someone who had recently been evicted. The signed etching was hanging in an unusual location and showed signs of sitting undisturbed for years.
“It was kind of in a weird spot hanging on a wall. It looked like it had been there for a long, long time because it had tons of dust across the top of it.”
Tim Dertz, Milwaukee landlord, via Theguardian
Unsure of what he was looking at, Dertz showed the framed item to an antique dealer friend. The acquaintance immediately recognized the master’s signature and suspected it matched a high-profile gallery theft reported years earlier.
Immediate Recognition and Verification of the Stolen Torero Print
When police contacted DeLind to examine the recovered item, the gallery owner experienced immediate disbelief followed by profound emotion. He instantly identified the work as the missing Torero
etching, one of only 30 known copies signed by Pablo Picasso to exist worldwide.
“I was overwhelmed. I was at a loss for words. It was an overwhelming moment for me.”
Bill DeLind, gallery owner, via Livemint
Any lingering doubt vanished upon inspecting the reverse side of the frame. The original inventory sticker placed by DeLind Fine Art Appraisals back in 2018 remained firmly attached. It was indeed mine,
DeLind noted. It came back full circle.
An authenticator formally confirmed the piece on Thursday, August 6, following its drop-off at police headquarters on August 5.
Valuation and the Ghost of an Unresolved Investigation
At the time of the 2018 theft, the piece was appraised at between $35,000 and $50,000. While DeLind believes the baseline market hasn’t shifted drastically, he suggests the artwork’s remarkable journey could push its worth toward the upper end of that estimate.
The recovery also carries deep emotional weight for the gallery’s leadership. DeLind shared that his former business partner, who passed away in February, was utterly devastated by the initial crime. Every year on the anniversary of the burglary, his partner would call investigators to push for renewed publicity in hopes of a breakthrough.
“He would have been over the moon about this. It was special to him.”
Bill DeLind, gallery owner, via Bozemandailychronicle
Ongoing Police Custody and Insurance Complexities
Despite the sudden recovery, the artwork’s immediate future remains tied to bureaucratic and legal processes. The etching stays in the physical possession of Milwaukee law enforcement while the client who originally consigned the piece to the gallery works through insurance claims.
Meanwhile, the criminal investigation remains officially open. Police officials noted that while Wisconsin generally enforces a six-year statute of limitations for property crimes and theft, investigators are keeping the case active as they try to determine how the rare piece ended up abandoned on an evicted tenant’s wall. Representatives for the FBI office in Milwaukee declined to comment on the ongoing recovery efforts.
