Lion Roars no More: Why the theft of a Winston Churchill portrait has left Canada in a tizzy

The theft of a famed portrait of Winston Churchill, one of Britain’s greatest prime ministers, has left citizens of Canada’s capital in a tizzy.

News of the heist broke after it was found that the photograph hanging at an Ottawa hotel for decades had been swapped out for a fake.

It was the staff at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa last Friday that noticed the picture of the late British prime minister was askew and didn’t match those of other portraits gifted by the late Armenian-born Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh.

The police were then called in.

Let’s take a look at the portrait and its importance:

About the portrait

The “Roaring Lion” portrait was taken by Karsh after the wartime leader addressed the Canadian parliament in 1941, becoming a symbol of British defiance in World War II.

As per The New York Times, that name was bestowed on the portrait for the fierce gaze of the British leader, and the defiance even as the Allies faced a long and bloody war.

Churchill in the portrait stares into the lens stoically, his left hand on his hip as his right hand rests on a chair, as per USA Today.

As per The Guardian, after the speech Karsh was waiting for Churchill and then Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King in the Speaker’s chambers.

Karsh later recalled how Churchill growled when the two entered the rooms arm in arm.

“I timorously stepped forward and said, ‘Sir, I hope I will be fortunate enough to make a portrait worthy of this historic occasion.’ He glanced at me and demanded, ‘Why was I not told?’”

Karsh said Churchill lit a fresh cigar, puffing it “with a mischievous air” and then acceded to a single photograph.

“I went back to my camera and made sure that everything was all right technically. I waited; he continued to chomp vigorously at his cigar. I waited. Then I stepped toward him and, without premeditation, but ever so respectfully, I said, ‘Forgive me, sir,’ and plucked the cigar out of his mouth. By the time I got back to my camera, he looked so belligerent he could have devoured me. It was at that instant that I took the photograph.” Karsh said, as per The Guardian.

The image is arguably the most iconic of Churchill and widely circulated, even appearing on the British five pound note.

“I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it would become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography,” Karsh said in an excerpt on his website.

The portrait shot Karsh into the limelight.

Karsh went onto photograph high-profile subects including the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway and Queen Elizabeth II.

A special relationship

Karsh and his wife, after fleeing the Armenian genocide and settling in Canada, lived at the hotel for 18 years. He also had a studio there until 1992.

As per The Guardian, the hotel was gifted 15 original works by Karsh, of which six were in the lounge. The remaining five have recently been removed until they can be properly secured, the hotel told the newspaper.

“We traveled so much it was difficult to keep up a big home,” Estrellita Karsh, 92, told The New York Times.

“I loved it,” she added, “because a hotel is like a little city.”

“Churchill was important in his life; he was important in everybody’s life,” Karsh said. “When he photographed him, Britain was on the verge of giving up.” Her husband, she added, had practiced making the image on a man who “looked like Churchill from the neck down.”

She and her husband, who died in 2002, gave the original print of Churchill, along with several others, to the hotel, after living there for nearly two decades. Karsh said that when she learned that the picture was missing, she was incredulous.

How was the theft discovered?

Genevieve Dumas, general manager at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, said maintenance staff had been the first to notice something wasn’t right with the portrait that hung in a reading room adjacent to the main lobby.

The hotel, which had hosted Karsh’s first exhibition in 1936, also confirmed with the photographer’s estate that a signature on the print was a fake.

As per The New York Times, when Jerry Fielder, director of Karsh’s estate, was contacted, he thought there was “no chance” that the picture could have been replaced by a copy.

Then they sent him a close-up picture of what was supposed to be Karsh’s signature. “I was stunned. This was a heist,” he added.

“I’ve seen that signature for 43 years. So it took me just one second to know that someone had tried to copy it,” Fielder told The Guardian. “It was a fake.”

Police are now reviewing security footage, but because the theft occurred when COVID-19 restrictions were in place, Dumas said the thief likely wore a mask.

As speculation swirls over the heist, former hotel guests have shared their snaps of the portrait over the years, helping to narrow down the date when it could have gone missing from 25 December, 2021, to 6 January, 2022.

“Somebody probably wanted that picture either for their private collection or to sell it. I don’t know,” Dumas said.

The portrait is estimated to be worth $100,000, but Dumas said it is priceless.

“It means a lot to us. It’s part of Karsh history, the hotel’s history as well as Canadian and British wartime history,” she said.

“Maybe somebody went somewhere for dinner and was bragging about their beautiful Winston Churchill picture,” Dumas told USA Today. “Come forward. … It would be sad to leave that piece of history and that iconic symbol somewhere (other than) where it belongs, which is here at the Fairmont Château Laurier.”

“We’re deeply saddened by this brazen theft,” she added. “We just hope to get it back.”

With inputs from agencies

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