An American was cleaning his apartment when he accidentally found a stolen Picasso painting
Eight years after it was stolen, a work by Pablo Picasso was discovered by chance in Milwaukee. The etching, *Torero*, was found by an apartment owner while cleaning the unit after a tenant had moved out. At first, he didn’t realize he was looking at a valuable work of art, but an antique dealer he knew helped establish its provenance.
The work in question is the etching “Toreador,” created by Picasso in 1949. There are about 30 known copies of this work. The etching is on rice paper and bears the artist’s personal signature. Before it was stolen, it was valued at $35,000–50,000. The work was stolen in 2018 from Bill DeLinda’s gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After that, the gallery owner had given up hope of ever seeing it again.
However, eight years later, the police informed DeLinda that they had found a work that might be his stolen etching. He was asked to come in and identify the painting. DeLind immediately realized that this was indeed the “Toreador” that had disappeared from his gallery. A detail on the frame also helped confirm the work’s origin. On the back of the frame was a sticker from DeLind Fine Art Appraisals. It had been there even before the etching was stolen.
The painting was found while cleaning an apartment
The work was discovered by property owner Tim Derz. He was cleaning the apartment after a tenant had moved out. While cleaning, he noticed the painting hanging on the wall. According to him, it was in a rather unusual spot and covered in a thick layer of dust. This might have indicated that the etching had been hanging there for quite some time. At the same time, Derz didn’t even realize at first that he was looking at a work by a famous artist.
He decided to show the find to an antique dealer he knew. The dealer recognized the work as a Picasso and suggested that it might be the very “Torero” that had been stolen from the gallery in 2018. Dertz then handed the etching over to law enforcement. The police examined the find and contacted Bill DeLind.
The gallery owner has finally recovered his artwork
After identifying the piece, DeLind confirmed that the etching was indeed the stolen Picasso. Thus, the artwork that had disappeared from the gallery eight years ago had been in the same city all along.
The story is particularly unusual because the valuable etching was, in fact, right in plain sight. It was hanging in an apartment, but no one noticed its true value. Now law enforcement officials must determine exactly how the stolen “Toreador” ended up in the apartment and who brought it there. This was reported by the Associated Press.
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