Robbery to homecoming: Winston Churchill portrait stolen on return to Canada

Finally arrived home.

Yousef Karsh’s famous portrait of the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill — the photo known as The Roaring Lion — will be officially returned to Canadian authorities, including representatives of the federal government, the Ottawa Police Service and the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel, in a ceremony Thursday in Rome.

The black-and-white portrait, one of the world’s most famous and historic images, was stolen from an Ottawa hotel lobby during the COVID-19 pandemic, sometime between December 25, 2021 and January 6, 2022. The thief (or thieves) replaced it on the wall with a very simple fake portrait, complete with a fake Karsh signature.

No one noticed the theft until August 2022 when a hotel employee thought something was amiss and took a closer look.

After a lengthy investigation spanning two continents, Ottawa police announced earlier this month that the original photo had finally been found — in Italy.

The painting was accidentally purchased in May 2022 from Sotheby's auction house in London by an Italian citizen living in Genoa, Nicola Cassinelli.

Neither Cassinelli nor Sotheby's were ever suspects. At the time of their transaction, neither knew the photograph had been stolen.

A 43-year-old man from Powassen, Ont., Jeffrey Wood, was arrested in April and faces multiple charges including theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen property.

Police have not said how the object ended up at the auction house, or how it was smuggled out of the hotel.

The image became a symbol of British resilience.

Since its discovery as a theft, the theft has captivated Canadians, Karsh fans, and Churchill enthusiasts around the world. The event made headlines around the world and prompted numerous documentaries.

The photograph itself was taken by Karsh in the Speaker’s Office on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 1941, shortly after Churchill had delivered a wartime speech to Canadian parliamentarians. As Karsh later recounted, he had pulled Churchill’s cigar from his mouth just before firing, causing the British prime minister to wince.

In doing so, Karsh created an image that symbolized British resilience in times of war.

Churchill's stern, stoic expression has been reprinted many times around the world, including currently on the back of the British five pound note.

In the late 1990s, Karsh — who had lived at Château Laurier for many years — gave the hotel an original painting of Roaring Lions for public display. It hangs in a large sitting room off the hotel lobby alongside several other Karsh portraits, including those of Albert Einstein and Spanish cellist Pablo Casals.

People walk on the sidewalk in front of a large hotel.
Karsh, who lives in the historic Château Laurier in downtown Ottawa, gifted the Karsh photograph to the hotel in the 1990s. (Brian Morris/CBC)

Churchill's portrait is considered his masterpiece.

Thursday's ceremony will be held at the Canadian Embassy in Rome and will include remarks by Canada's deputy minister for Canadian Heritage, along with Genèvieve Dumas, the manager of Château Laurier, and Akira Geller, the Ottawa police detective who cracked the case.

The photograph will then be sent back to Canada and is expected to return to its place on the Château wall sometime in October.

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