A Canadian art theft mystery has been solved: a famous portrait of a scowling Winston Churchill stolen from an Ottawa hotel has been recovered in Italy and the culprit arrested, police say.
The “Roaring Lion” photograph of the late British Prime Minister was donated to the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa by the late Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.
The statue, photographed by Mr. Karsh after the wartime leader spoke to the Canadian Parliament in 1941, became a symbol of British defiance in the Second World War.
In August 2022, hotel staff noticed that a photograph hanging in the reading room next to the main lobby had been replaced with a fake.
Two years later, Ottawa police say that with the help of public tips and forensic science, they have identified the culprit, a 43-year-old man living 370 kilometers (230 miles) west of Ottawa, and the portrait, which was stolen in Genoa, Italy.
“The portrait was sold to an Italian buyer through a London auction house, neither of whom knew the work was stolen,” police said in a statement.
The suspect was arrested in April and charged with theft, forgery and trafficking in stolen property.
“We are thrilled to see the iconic Roaring Lion statue back in its rightful place at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier,” the hotel's general manager Genevieve Dumas told AFP.
“Not only is this portrait an irreplaceable work of art, but it's also an important piece of our hotel's history,” she said.
The piece will be returned to the hotel in the coming weeks and put back on display for guests.
Karsh and his wife lived in the hotel for 18 years after fleeing the Armenian Genocide and emigrated to Canada, and he also had a studio there until 1992.
His other portrait subjects included Martin Luther King Jr., Ernest Hemingway and Queen Elizabeth II.
Historical records show that Karsh removed the cigar from Churchill's mouth just before taking a portrait of him, causing the British prime minister to grimac.
This portrait is perhaps the most iconic of Churchill's and is the most widely circulated, appearing on the British five pound note.
Maintenance staff were the first to notice the portrait's disappearance.
As speculation rages around the theft, former guests of the hotel have shared photos of the portrait over the years, helping narrow down the likely date the portrait was lost to between Dec. 25, 2021 and Jan. 6, 2022. The hotel, which hosted Karsh's first exhibition in 1936, confirmed with the photographer's estate that a signature on the print left by the thief is a fake.
