Stolen Karsh portrait of Winston Churchill handed over to Canadians in Rome

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After almost three years in Europe, Yousuf Karsh’s stolen wartime portrait of Winston Churchill is finally heading home to Canada.

At an official ceremony on Thursday morning at the Canadian embassy in Rome, the famed black-and-white portrait, known as The Roaring Lion, was handed to a delegation of Canadians that included the Ottawa police, diplomats, government heritage officials and representatives of the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel, where the piece had hung and Mr. Karsh had lived for decades.

Italy’s Carabinieri military police, who helped to track down the portrait, and the Italian lawyer from Genoa, Nicola Cassinelli, who had bought the piece at a Sotheby’s auction in London in May, 2022, unaware that it had been stolen, were also present.

“I have been eagerly waiting this day for some time,” said Geneviève Dumas, the hotel’s general manager. The portrait “was a piece of history, a moment in time captured by Yousuf Karsh, symbolizing strength, leadership and resilience during a pivotal moment in history.”

She said the portrait will be delivered to Ottawa by a logistics company that specializes in the shipment of precious art. Once back in Canada, it will be placed in a dark-brown wooden frame similar to the original frame and should be rehung in the Château Laurier by the end of next month. “Mrs. Karsh chose the frame herself,” she said, referring to Estrellita Karsh, 94, whose husband died in Boston in 2002.

The portrait was stolen some time between Dec. 25, 2021, and Jan. 6, 2022, and replaced with a shoddy reproduction. But it took about eight months before a hotel worker noticed the portrait was crooked, which led to the discovery of the fake and the trans-Atlantic scramble to find the original.

In April, police charged Jeffrey Wood, 43, of Powassan, Ont., in connection with the crime. He faces six charges related to forgery, theft and possession of stolen property. Canadian and Italian police at the embassy handover declined to give more details of the crime. “We can’t because the case may go to court soon and we have to keep back some information for now,” said Akiva Geller, acting detective sergeant in the Ottawa police force.

Mr. Cassinelli, 34, said he will miss the portrait of Britain’s leader in the Second World War, calling it his cherished “roommate for nearly two years.” He replaced the original with a US$55 copy and may go to Ottawa next month for the Château Laurier rehanging ceremony. “I am happy that this piece of history is going back to Canada and I am happy that I am part of that story,” he said.

Isabelle Mondou, deputy minister of Canadian heritage, praised the Canadian-Italian hunt for the Churchill portrait and Canada’s effort to curtail art trafficking.

Ms. Mondou is involved in the repatriation effort of the “Pope’s kayak,” the extremely rare, century-old sealskin Inuvialuit kayak that has been part of the Vatican Museums’ ethnological collection for many decades. In 2023, Pope Francis invoked one of the commandments – “Thou shalt not steal” – to express his agreement on the importance of restitution of various Indigenous items held by the Vatican. “And then, the restitution of Indigenous things: this is going on, with Canada, at least we were in agreement to do so,” he said.

Ms. Mondou said the kayak’s return “is an agreed decision” but did not have a date for its delivery to Canada, or where it would be displayed. Options include the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau or in an Inuit Nunangat region. “It’s very much the choice of the Inuit,” she said. “We are working very, very closely with our Inuit partners.”

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