Whether it’s cleaning out an attic or a Wisconsin apartment, in one landlord’s case, finding an original Pablo Picasso work might seem like an unbelievable stroke of luck.
GNN knows slightly better—every year pieces by the most famous Spanish artist seem to turn up all over the place.
Milwaukee landlord Timothy Dertz was cleaning out after a tenant had left, and found a striking depiction of a man behind a door in the farthest room.
“A very odd placement for such a piece of art,” he thought at the time, according to local news.
Dertz brought it to an antique dealer to see if there was any indication it might be valuable: the Picasso signature in green crayon seemed to be a good place to start.
The two men then dug deeper and found an identical piece by Picasso; an etching made by the artist in 1949 called Torero. Moreover, the piece was reported stolen from a Milwaukee art gallery in 2018 where it was valued at between $35,000 and $50,000.
Anxious he would somehow become associated with the unsolved criminal act, Dertz wasted no time in bringing it to the police station and recounting all he had learned. In August, Milwaukee police contacted Mr. Bill DeLind, owner of the art gallery where the piece was allegedly stolen. He confirmed it was the real deal.
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“I never expected to see it again,” DeLind tells the Washington Post. “The fact that it would turn up 8 years later in perfect condition is just jaw-dropping.”
At the time, the gallery had put out a reward worth $5,000 for information leading to the etching’s return, increasing it in increments periodically until, with their insurance having compensated them for the loss, they gave up hope of finding Torero.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Stolen 18th-Century Painting of St. Francis Returned to a Mexican Church
Yet if the art world is anything, it’s archival. Indeed, Smithsonian Magazine quoted the founder of the FBI’s Art Crimes Unit as saying that the bureau always advises victims of art theft to sit tight, as stolen pieces often show up through gallery and auction house due diligence processes.
Even antique dealers like the one contacted by Dertz can only properly appraise works of art if they know what they are. Knowing what they are inevitably involves learning where they came from, and that often sees paintings reunited with rightful owners, as GNN has reported—about Picasso works no less.
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