November 30, 2024

Stolen Churchill Portrait Returned

By RONALD I. COHEN

The news went round the world: the famous “Roaring Lion” photograph of Winston Churchill taken in 1941 by Canadian photographer Yuosuf Karsh had been stolen from the lobby of the Ottawa Fairmont Château Laurier Hotel, apparently between Christmas Day 2021 and January 6, 2022, i.e., during the last months of the pandemic. Described by The Economist (and I agree), the Karsh Churchill is the “most reproduced portrait in the history of photography.” Unfortunately, the Château’s copy of the portrait was in perhaps the most publicly accessible location anywhere an original print can be seen.

On December 30, 1941, four days after his first address to the American Congress, Churchill delivered his only speech ever in the Canadian House of Commons—although he was a frequent visitor to Canada and to Ottawa. The speech was, in moments, stirring. As would be appropriate in Canada, he spoke in both English and French (albeit principally in English). Just under halfway through Churchill’s delivery of his remarks, Karsh, seated in the House chamber, found the flash he sought for his photographic venture.

Observing Churchill, Karsh heard the British leader refer to the pessimism of the French military leadership, concluding “But their generals misled them. When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, ‘In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken.’ Some chicken! [those words were followed by a full-throated 15 seconds of laughter, jeering, and thunderous applause] Some neck! [yet louder derision]” Karsh called that instance of Churchillian determination his “moment of inspiration.”

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Later, in a 1947 article for Esquire, James L. McConaughy, Jr. wrote of Karsh’s psychological genius behind the camera, citing Churchill’s words to the photographer, “You can make a roaring lion stand still.” Hence the eternal characterization of the December 1941 portrait.

Since Karsh and his wife Estrellita lived in, and had their offices on, the sixth floor of the Château for almost two decades, the relevance of that stolen photograph was apparent. After the Karshes decamped Ottawa for Boston in the early 1990s, they donated the Churchill portrait and other Karsh masterpieces to the Château. Once the theft of the Churchill was discovered, it became an international story, in no small measure because of the esteem in which both Churchill and Karsh are held. The story grew even larger recently when the Roaring Lion was recovered and returned to Canada.

The theft took place at some as yet undetermined date between Christmas Day 2021 and January 6, 2022 (details will be revealed at the trial of the accused thief). The Roaring Lion was removed from the hotel’s wall and replaced with a forgery. Not until eight months later, however, was the exchange discovered when Bruno Lair, a hotel maintenance man, spotted something wrong with the ersatz replacement. Among other things, he noted that it was suspended by a wire, rather than screwed to the wall as the original had been. In addition, the forged Karsh signature varied in noticeable ways from the well-known genuine signature of the photographer.

At first it was thought that the theft must have been an inside job. While Geneviève Dumas, the General Manager of the Château, doubted that possibility, every individual employed by the hotel took a lie detector test. All of them passed with flying colours, so the investigation continued.

Given the case, Detective Sergeant Akiva Geller began his quest to uncover the fate of the original and quickly set about unravelling the mystery of the theft. With a colleague, he traced the missing portrait to Sotheby’s, the famous London auction house from which it had been innocently acquired by an Italian attorney, Nicola Cassinelli, who had hung his successful purchase on his living room wall in Genoa.

Once Detective Geller had identified the location of the stolen photograph, Signor Cassinelli readily collaborated with the local Carabinieri. In a ceremony at the Canadian Embassy in Rome on September 19, 2024, he thoughtfully and generously remitted the iconic portrait to Elissa Golberg, the Canadian Ambassador to Rome. In her remarks on the occasion, Ambassador Golberg said, “Canada believes strongly that the repatriation of works of art is crucial to preserving cultural heritage and fostering historical justice.”

The suspected perpetrator was arrested and appeared briefly in court two days later. The Ottawa Police news release said: “With the help of public tips, forensic analysis, and international cooperation, investigators tracked down the individual responsible for the theft. Additionally, open-source research and collaboration with other agencies were key in identifying the suspect.” The suspect (from the very small municipality of Powassan in northern Ontario) was arrested and charged with theft and forgery. The good news is that there was not the slightest damage to the genuine Roaring Lion. The accused is out on bail, subject to very strict conditions.

The Roaring Lion was carefully packaged and returned to Ottawa, and, on November 15, the Château Laurier replaced it on the wall from which it had been stolen. Viewing of the Churchill portrait was opened to the public beginning on November 18. Needless to say, it is now securely affixed to the wall, so securely in fact that, when Bruno Lair inadvertently touched a part of it during the installation process this past week, sirens blared as far away, Geneviève Dumas opined, as the Parliamentary Buildings a block distant.

And so, the inspirational, iconic, famous portrait is once again firmly attached to the wall where it had once hung, in the beautifully renovated Château’s Zoe’s Lounge, protected by thick, sturdy, but unobtrusive plexiglass, and ready for enthusiastic visitors to gaze upon it. As if to accentuate the portrait, the hotel has also created a new beverage in recognition of the Great Man, “Château Laurier Lion’s Roar Whisky,” which I look very much forward to tasting in the near future.

Ronald I. Cohen C.M. MBE leads ICS Ottawa and is author of Sir Winston Churchill: A Bibliography of His Published Writings.