The famous Winston Churchill portrait known as the ‘The Roaring lion’, was stolen at a Canadian hotel. The portrait was replaced with a fake one.
The famous photographer Yousuf Karsh captured the image known as “Roaring Lion” shortly after Churchill’s speech before the Canadian parliament in 1941. The picture is now believed by authorities to have been swapped with a fake after it was taken during a heist.
However, on August 19, a hotel employee realized the picture had been changed and notified the authorities, who are currently looking into the matter. The place where it was kept was known as the Château Laurier hotel and is in Ottawa, Canada. Additionally, the hotel is home to photographs of Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., and Queen Elizabeth II.
“It took me one second to know…it was a fake”
“I’ve seen that signature for 43 years. So, it took me just one second to know that someone had tried to copy it. It was a fake,” said Jeremy Fielder, who was the one who discovered that the original portrait was missing. He is also responsible for overseeing Karsh’s estate.
“It wasn’t his signature. I couldn’t believe that anyone would do this. It had been there for so long and had been such a part of the hotel. It was shocking and very saddening,” he continued.
The original photograph, which was created from a negative and autographed by Karsh, was intended to be hung on the wall.
The portrait was one of the 15 gifts that Karsh gave to the hotel about 24 years ago. Karsh had a history with the hotel, according to Fielder, as it was where he held his very first exhibition. He even spent 20 years there before deciding to give them his artwork as a present.
Fielder continued, “For the kinds of people that he photographed, they coil spot a sycophant or a phony a mile away. And when you were with Yousuf, you knew right away he was the real thing. And I think it allows people to feel that they can be themselves. He just had a way with people and putting them at ease.”