Thursday marks five years since an etching by Pablo Picasso went missing from a Milwaukee art brokerage and appraisal firm.
One of the firm’s co-owners, Michael Goforth, is asking the public to contact the FBI or Milwaukee Police Department to pass along any information about its whereabouts.
The work, “Torero,” was stolen on Feb. 16, 2018, from DeLind Fine Art Appraisals LLC, 761 N. Jefferson St., according to co-owner Bill DeLind.
“It just walked off the wall,” DeLind told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel at the time of the theft. DeLind didn’t notice anyone in the business on Feb. 16, nor does the gallery have security cameras that could have caught images of the theft, he said.
“Torero,” which Picasso created in 1949, is worth an estimated $35,000 to $50,000. It is an etching and aquatint printed in ink on paper. It is signed by Picasso, a Spanish artist who died in 1973.
A year after the etching went missing, authorities were offering a $10,000 reward, however that expired in May 2019. In a statement, the FBI did not mention a reward and said the lead agency is MPD. Milwaukee Police said they are seeking unknown suspects and encourage people to reach out to them. The department was also unaware of any reward.
Anyone who knows of the whereabouts of the etching can contact the FBI at 414-276-4684 or MPD at 414-933-4444.
Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
Contact Drake Bentley at (414) 391-5647 or DBentley1@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DrakeBentleyMJS.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: It’s been five years since a Picasso etching went missing in Milwaukee