An original Pablo Picasso etching print titled Torero
from 1949, valued between $35,000 and $50,000 and stolen from a Milwaukee art gallery in February 2018, was recovered in August 2026 after a local landlord found it hanging in a vacant apartment.
The Discovery Inside a Vacant Milwaukee Apartment
A routine apartment cleaning in Milwaukee turned up a missing piece of fine art that had vanished eight years earlier. Tim Dertz, a local landlord, discovered the artwork while cleaning out a vacant unit left by an evicted tenant, as reported by Theguardian. The unit had been neglected, with empty pizza boxes piled high and a strong odor of cat urine.
Tucked behind a bedroom door and covered in a thick layer of dust hung a framed print. It looked like it had been there for a long, long time because it had tons of dust across the top of it,
Dertz told the Wisconsin ABC affiliate, according to Theguardian. Dertz showed the piece to an antique dealer friend, who recognized it as a potential match for a high-profile art theft reported in the city in 2018. Dertz subsequently handed the artwork over to the Milwaukee Police Department.
Authentication and Gallery Return After Eight Years
Police contacted William DeLind, owner of DeLind Fine Art Appraisals, on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, after a community member brought the print to District 4, according to Fox6now. DeLind immediately traveled to inspect the piece and confirmed its identity. The original backing sticker from DeLind Fine Art Appraisals remained firmly attached to the frame.
“It’s been 8 years. Never thought I’d see it again. And then all of a sudden to have it come up, I just…I haven’t got words.”
William DeLind, owner of DeLind Fine Art Appraisals, via Fox6now
DeLind noted that the artwork was in remarkably good condition. It was in perfect shape. It was apparently just taken from the wall here to the place it was hanging and just hung there for all this time. Nobody banged it around or threw it in the back of a truck and bounced down the street or anything,
he observed, as detailed by Fox6now.
The 2018 Theft From the Watts Building Lobby
The print, an original 1949 sugar lift etching created by Pablo Picasso at Mourlot Studio in Paris and titled Torero
(the Spanish word for bullfighter
), had been displayed on consignment in the lobby of the Watts building on Jefferson Street in downtown Milwaukee, according to The Washington Post and Fox6now.
On February 16, 2018, the piece vanished during a narrow three-and-a-half-hour window between 10 a.m., when DeLind arrived at the upstairs office, and 1:30 p.m., when his late business partner, Michael Goforth, left for lunch. Goforth noticed the empty space on the wall and immediately asked DeLind if the print was out on approval. When DeLind confirmed it was not, the partners realized it had been stolen.
Despite numerous security cameras operating in the downtown district—including 14 cameras mapped by investigators near the block—no footage of a suspect leaving with the print was ever recovered, according to Fox6now. Goforth remained deeply distressed by the unsolved crime until his passing earlier in 2026, regularly contacting police on the anniversary of the theft to urge renewed public attention.
Valuation and Legal Status Following the Recovery
At the time of the 2018 theft, the piece was appraised between $35,000 and $50,000. DeLind noted that given its recovery story, its market value may now sit closer to the higher end of that estimate, as reported by Theguardian.
Criminal charges in connection with the theft are unlikely. The Milwaukee Police Department stated that the standard statute of limitations for felony theft and property crimes in the jurisdiction is six years, which has already elapsed, according to Fox6now. Investigators have not publicly identified the tenant who occupied the south-side apartment where the print hung.
The artwork remains in police custody while ownership details are settled. Because the insurance company owns the Picasso print, representatives will determine whether the insurer takes possession, authorizes a new sale through the gallery, or returns the piece to display, according to Fox6now.
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