Portrait of Winston Churchill returned to Ottawa after international art theft

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — A stolen portrait of Winston Churchill that was forged during the pandemic has been returned to its rightful place after two Ottawa police detectives traveled to Rome to retrieve it.

police said “Roaring Lion” It was stolen from the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa between Christmas Day 2021 and January 6, 2022, and was forged as a replacement. The exchange was not revealed until months later, in August, when a hotel employee noticed that the frame was not hung properly and looked different from the others.

Genevieve Dumas, the hotel’s general manager, unveiled the portrait at a ceremony on Friday.

“I can tell you he was armed, locked and secured,” Dumas said.

“It’s not moving,” he said, adding that staff accidentally triggered the alarm on Thursday and turned it off, “and I’m sure they heard about that on Parliament Hill.”

The most famous depiction of Churchill, known as the “Roaring Lion,” appears on the United Kingdom’s five-pound note and shows an angry wartime prime minister staring at the camera.

Renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh shot the iconic portrait in the Speaker’s office in 1941, just after Churchill gave a stirring wartime speech to Canadian MPs.

Towards the end of his life, Karsh signed this portrait and gifted it to the hotel where he lived and worked.

Police said the portrait was sold to a private buyer through an auction house in London, and both the seller and the buyer were unaware that the portrait had been stolen.

Police have now charged a man from Powassan, Ontario, with forgery, theft and smuggling. This case is before the courts.

The portrait’s return was a widely anticipated event, with a ceremony held in a room full of attendees, including the mayor of Ottawa.

Nicola Cassinelli, the Genoa lawyer who bought the stolen artwork, sent a message.

“Yousuf Karsh’s magnificent photograph captures the pride, anger and power of the free world in the eyes of Sir Winston Churchill. And he represents, better than any other, the desire for good to triumph over evil.”

And despite the “extraordinary privilege” of having the portrait hung in his home, he said “The Roaring Lion” belongs to the public.