A brazen art heist that shocked Canadians has been solved: A famous portrait of a scowling Winston Churchill stolen from an Ottawa hotel has been found in Italy and the thief has been caught, police said Wednesday. AFP reported.
The “Roaring Lion” portrait of the late British prime minister had been gifted to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa by the late Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.
It was taken by Karsh after the wartime leader addressed the Canadian parliament in 1941, becoming a symbol of British defiance in World War II.
In August 2022, hotel staff noticed that the photograph, hanging in a reading room off the main lobby, had been replaced with a fake.
Two years later, Ottawa police say they have, with the help of public tips and forensic investigations, found the culprit, a 43-year-old man living 230 miles (370 kilometers) west of Ottawa, and the stolen portrait in Genoa, Italy.
“The portrait was sold through an auction house in London to a buyer in Italy, who was unaware that the piece was stolen,” police said in a statement.
The suspect was arrested in April and charged with theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen goods.
“We are delighted that the iconic Roaring Lion portrait is returning to its rightful home at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier,” said hotel general manager Genevieve Dumas. AFP.
“This portrait… is not only an irreplaceable work of art but also a significant part of our hotel's history,” he said.
The artwork will be returned to the hotel in the coming weeks, and it is planned to put it back on display for its guests.
Karsh and his wife, after fleeing the Armenian genocide and settling in Canada, lived in the hotel for 18 years. He also had a studio there until 1992.
Other subjects of his portraits include Martin Luther King, Jr., Ernest Hemingway, and Queen Elizabeth II.
According to historical accounts, Karsh pulled a cigar out of Churchill's mouth just before taking his portrait, causing the British prime minister to grimace.
The image is possibly Churchill's most iconic and most widely circulated, even appearing on the five pound note.
The maintenance staff was the first to notice the disappearance of the portrait.
As speculation about the theft continued, former hotel guests shared their snapshots of the portrait over the years, helping pinpoint the date of its probable disappearance from December 25, 2021 to January 6, 2022.
The hotel, which hosted Karsh's first exhibition in 1936, also confirmed to the photographer's heirs that one of the signatures on the print was fake.
