A famous portrait of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been stolen from a hotel in Canada. However, the theft was noticed later because the painting was replaced with a fake. Only the frame seemed “mysterious” to one employee.
Known as “The Roaring Lion,” the portrait was taken after Churchill delivered a speech to the Canadian Parliament in 1941. It comes from the Canadian-Armenian photographer Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), from whose collection 15 other works hang in the Hotel Chateau Laurier in Ottawa.
Probate trustee contacted, then police
Last week, a staff member noted that the framing of the “Lion Roaring” is different from that of the other five Karsh portraits also hanging in the lounge. Jerry Fielder, who manages the Karsh estate, was then contacted to inspect the signature on the portrait.
Fielder told the Guardian it only took him a few seconds to realize it was fake. Ottawa police were notified after realizing the original had been stolen.
Time of theft unclear
It is unclear when the picture of Churchill was exchanged. Fielder saw the portrait for the last time in 2019, when it was still the original. However, the administrator of the estate does not assume that the thief will bring back the valuable painting.
The hotel said the portrait has been in its possession for 24 years and is now the first time it has disappeared. Karsh had his first exhibition in the historic building in 1936. The photographer lived with his wife on the third floor of the hotel for almost two decades.
“Obviously this theft was very carefully planned. I assume it was stolen because of its value,” Fielder said. Reprints of Karsh’s work have not been permitted since the negatives were given to the National Library of Canada in the 1990s. “We don’t allow reproductions,” Fielder said. “We don’t allow copies.”
The story behind the “Roaring Lion”
Karsh had been waiting for Churchill after the 1941 speech. He hoped the British Prime Minister would allow him a portrait, but all he did was “snarl,” as the photographer later wrote in his book Faces of Our Time.
“I stepped forward tentatively and said, ‘Sir, I hope I shall have the good fortune to take a portrait of you worthy of this historic occasion.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Why wasn’t I told that?'” Karsh says.
Churchill lit a new cigar and puffed on it. Only then did he agree. “He continued to chew his cigar vigorously. I waited. Then I walked up to him, said without any intention but very respectfully: ‘Excuse me, sir’ and snatched the cigar out of his mouth,” the photographer later said. “When I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent (…) That’s when I took the picture.”