The case of a stolen Winston Churchill portrait is now officially closed. In August 2022, Ottawa’s Fairmont Château Laurier hotel reported that Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh’s ubiquitous 1941 “Roaring Lion” portrait, which has appeared on British money, had gone missing. Yesterday, the Ottawa Police Department announced that the portrait has been located and the thief charged. Now, they’re arranging to return the picture to its swanky home.
The perpetrator, whose identity remains protected by a publication ban, stole Karsh’s portrait and attempted to fool hotel staff about it by placing a duplicate in its place. After a staff member noticed that the frame of the fake image looked strange, the hotel notified Jerry Fielder, who manages Karsh’s estate. Fielder deemed its signature phony. A police investigation soon revealed that the heist likely took place between December 25, 2021 and January 6, 2022.
Authorities have been on the case ever since. Yesterday’s release stated: “It was determined that the portrait was sold through an auction house in London to a buyer in Italy, both of whom were unaware that the piece was stolen.”
Police tracked down the thief, a 43-year-old from Powassan, Ontario, by pairing “public tips, forensic analysis, and international cooperation” with “open-source research and collaboration with other agencies.” He was arrested on April 25 and charged with forgery, theft, trafficking in stolen goods, among other charges. The official documents place the portrait’s value in excess of $5,000.
Karsh, who arrived in Canada in 1923 after fleeing the Armenian genocide, opened his first photography studio in Ottawa in 1932. Forty years later, he relocated to none other than the Fairmont Château Laurier.
He went on to create countless iconic black and white portraits of 20th-century stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Ernest Hemingway, and Queen Elizabeth. Karsh’s prints regularly list for over $10,000. Although his estate apparently doesn’t release his negatives for further reproductions, Heritage Auctions is currently offering another copy of the 1941 Churchill portrait, which catapulted Karsh to international acclaim. Karsh took the shot after Churchill addressed Canada’s parliament. Legend has it the photographer snatched Churchill’s cigar to provoke the Prime Minister’s famed scowl. Heritage estimates its example will fetch $5,000 to $7,000. Four years ago, Sotheby’s sold another for $62,500.
Yousuf Karsh stands for a photo next to the “Roaring Lion” portrait during the preview of his 80th birthday exhibition at London’s Barbican Art Gallery. Photo: PA Images via Getty Images.
This latest caper isn’t even the first time Karsh’s Churchill portrait has sparked crime. In 2015, Siriux XM host Michael Smerconish accused New York dealer Walter Graham Arader III of selling him a phony copy after an expert judged it to be a reproduction.
Now, the Ottawa Police Department is working with the Italian Carabinieri and a private collector in Genoa on a press junket to “ceremoniously” hand the photograph back over to Canadian investigators in Rome later this month.
The copy of Karsh’s “Roaring Lion” will then return to its rightful home of 26 years—with enhanced protection, the hotel has promised.
