A Pablo Picasso etching stolen from Milwuakee’s DeLind Art Appraisals in 2018 was handed over to the city’s plice department on Thursday, according to a press release.
The etching and aquatint printed in ink on paper, titled Torero, is the ninth in an edition of 30. When it was stolen in 2018, Bill DeLind told news organizations that it was worth between $35,000 and $50,000.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God,” DeLind told local news station 12 News on Thursday. “I never thought I’d see this again. And there it was.”
In 2018, DeLind described the work as having “walked off the wall,” telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he did not see anyone in the business on the day the work disappeared, and that the office did not have security cameras. At one point, police offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the work’s whereabouts, but that offer expired in 2019.
Police brought in DeLind to authenticate the work, which still had a sticker from his shop on it. “It was in a frame, and it still had the glass in front of it to protect it. It was still perfect. The frame was in good shape, so apparently whoever took it hung it on the wall and just left it,” DeLind told 12 News.
Milwaukee Police have not said who turned in the work. They are now working to return it to its rightful owner.
