Churchill portrait stolen from Château Laurier recovered in Italy

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“Roaring Lion,” the famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill brazenly snatched from the walls of Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel and replaced with a fake, has been found in Italy, Ottawa police say.

The force said Wednesday investigators will travel to Rome, Italy, later this month to retrieve the original print and return it to the hotel.

The 1941 portrait of the then-British prime minister, photographed by famed Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, was reported stolen from the lobby of the Château Laurier in August 2022. The theft was alleged to have happened between Dec. 25, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022, the hotel determined. It was a relatively quiet period at the hotel due to public restrictions during the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Police determined the portrait was sold through an auction house in London to a buyer in Italy, both of whom were unaware the piece was stolen. Public tips, forensic analysis, and international cooperation with Italian police led investigators to track down the person accused of stealing the portrait, police said.

“Additionally, open-source research and collaboration with other agencies were key in identifying the suspect,” police said.

A 43-year-old man from Powassan, Ont., whose identity has been shielded by a publication ban, was arrested April 25 and appeared in court in Ottawa the next day charged with numerous offences, including theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen property.

“The Ottawa Police Service has been working closely with the Carabinieri and the portrait’s purchaser, a private citizen from Genoa, Italy, to ensure its safe return to Canada,” police said in a statement. “With the assistance of the Carabinieri, arrangements have been made with the citizen to ceremoniously hand over the portrait to the Ottawa Police Service in Rome later this month.

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“Once in Ottawa police custody, the portrait will be ready for the last step of its journey home to the Fairmont Château Laurier, where it will once again be displayed as a notable historic portrait.”

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The Château Laurier said Karsh’s portraits are “part of the hotel’s history” as Karsh ran his studio at the hotel from 1972 to 1992 and he and his wife lived there for 18 years.

Karsh, who died in 2002, photographed some of the most famous people of the 20th century. But it was his portrait of the scowling British prime minister, shot during a 1941 visit to Ottawa at the height of the Second World War, that brought him the most fame.

Karsh photographed some of the most famous people of the 20th century but it was his portrait of a scowling Churchill that brought him the most fame.

Churchill was in Ottawa in December 1941 to address Parliament with Karsh hand-picked for the photo by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King for a portrait.

Churchill was clutching the speech he had just delivered — the famous “Some Chicken. Some neck” speech — and Karsh asked that he tuck the pages away in his pocket. Then, famously, he snatched the cigar from Churchill’s mouth.

“By the time I got back to my camera,” Karsh recalled years later, “he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me.”

With files from Postmedia archives.

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