The “Roaring Lion” has been found.
A 1941 portrait of British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill by famed Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh, which was reported stolen from the lobby of Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel in August 2022, has been located in Italy, sources tell CBC News.
Ottawa police investigators, who tracked the photo down, say it is set to be returned to the hotel.
A 43-year-old man from Powassan, Ont., was arrested April 25 and appeared in court in Ottawa the next day charged with multiple offences, including theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen property. His name is under a publication ban.
The brazen heist, which made international headlines, occurred during a COVID-19-related lockdown in Ottawa sometime between Christmas Day 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022, the hotel determined.
The photo had been gifted to the hotel by Karsh himself and had been on public display at the Château for decades until it was removed from the wall and replaced by a faked copy, which then hung in its place, unnoticed, for months.
Art heist mystery still unsolved: Who stole Yousuf Karsh’s iconic portrait of Winston Churchill from the walls of the famous Château Laurier hotel and replaced it with a fake? CBC’s Paul Hunter examines the clues, including a surprising personal connection to the case.
After discovery of the theft, Ottawa police began a global hunt for the photo, ultimately tracking it down in Italy.
Sources tell CBC News that Ottawa police determined a buyer in Genoa, Italy, had purchased it from the London auction house Sotheby’s. They emphasize that at the time of the sale, neither party was aware it had been stolen. The Italian buyer is not a suspect in the case.
Karsh’s photo — one of the most well-known portraits in the world, and nicknamed “the Roaring Lion” — is now set to be formally handed over to Canadian government officials at a ceremony in Rome later this month.
It is to be returned to the hotel sometime after that and reinstated on the wall of its lobby.
Police in Ottawa are expected to release more details shortly.