November 21, 2024
Portrait of Winston Churchill “The Roaring Lion” was stolen from a hotel in Canada. Police traced the photo to a buyer in Italy.

Portrait of Winston Churchill “The Roaring Lion” was stolen from a hotel in Canada. Police traced the photo to a buyer in Italy.

For years, a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the walls of the famous Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa, Canada. However, in 2022, it was discovered that the iconic photo had been replaced with a copy.

More than two years later, Ottawa police found the photo in Italy and said the buyer plans to return it to Canada at a ceremony in Rome.

A hotel employee noticed something was wrong with the portrait, called “The Roaring Lion,” in August 2022. He noticed that the frame of the print didn’t match the others, the Smithsonian reported, so the hotel called the manager of photographer Yousuf Karsh. The manager said he took one look at the signature on the replacement photo and knew it was a copy.

“We are deeply saddened by this shameless act,” Geneviève Dumas, general manager of Chateau Laurier, said in a press release at the time. “The hotel is incredibly proud to house this stunning Karsh collection, which was safely installed in 1998.”

Karsh, one of the world’s most celebrated portrait photographers, took Winston’s photo in 1941 after he had snatched the Prime Minister’s cigar as he smoked it. Churchill’s resulting frown made the photo so famous that it eventually ended up on the front of the British five-pound note.

Both Karsh and Winston stayed at the hotel. Ottawa’s CTV reported that Karsh and his wife lived at the hotel for two decades and even ran their studio in the hotel from 1972 to 1992.

A subsequent police investigation revealed that the portrait had been taken between December 25, 2021 and January 6, 2022. Police discovered that the portrait had been sold through a London auction house to a buyer in Italy. Both parties were unaware that the portrait had been stolen.

Ottawa police said they used “public tips, forensic analysis and international cooperation” to track down the thief. An Ottawa man — whose name police are not releasing due to a publication ban — was arrested on April 25, 2024.

The 43-year-old was charged with theft and human trafficking, police said. The buyer of the portrait, who is from Genoa, worked with Italian police to hand over the photo and “arrangements have been made with the citizen to ceremonially hand over the portrait to the Ottawa Police Service in Rome later this month,” police said.

“Once the portrait is in the custody of the Ottawa Police Service, it will be ready for the final leg of its journey home to the Fairmont Château Laurier, where it will once again be displayed as a remarkable historical portrait,” police said.

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