The famed black-and-white 1941 photograph of a glowering Sir Winston Churchill was the perfect finishing touch to Nicola Cassinelli’s modest living room.
A prominent lawyer and passionate small-scale art collector who had just bought an apartment in Genoa, Italy, Mr Cassinelli, 34, was searching for the right piece to hang on a small corner wall near his bookcase when he stumbled upon the signed copy of Roaring Lion for sale in Sotheby’s online catalogue in May 2022.
“It immediately grabbed my attention, not just for its beauty but because I am fascinated with the figure of Winston Churchill,” Mr Cassinelli told The Telegraph in an interview on Sunday. “This was the emblematic photo that captured his anger, the strength of the free world – good that triumphs over evil. It’s historic.”
He made a £4,200 bid and to his surprise, won it. Two weeks and £2,000 in customs, shipping and tax charges later, it was hanging proudly in his apartment.
“I showed it to all my guests and was really happy with it.”
What he – and Sotheby’s – did not know, however, was that the photograph was not a signed copy. Instead it was the original, taken by photographer Yousuf Karsh and possibly worth millions, which had been stolen from the hotel lobby of Ottawa’s Fairmont Fairmont Château Laurier in January 2022 and trafficked to Europe.
Mr Cassinelli has now returned the photograph, which from today will once again be on display in the Ottawa hotel for the public, behind a protective glass panel and newly watched over by sensors and security cameras.
“After more than two years, I stand before you to celebrate the return of our iconic portrait,” said Geneviève Dumas, the hotel’s general manager, on Friday. “We extend our gratitude to Ottawa police services, international law enforcement, Mr Nicola Cassinelli, and all who are contributing to its return.”
Mayor Mark Sutcliffe called the return of the “Roaring Lion” photograph a “remarkable day for Ottawa”.
It marks the end of an art heist mystery that required the persistence of Ottawa detectives, and the goodwill of Mr Cassinelli, to resolve.
Three months after his purchase, Mr Cassinelli got a call from Sotheby’s asking him not to sell or transfer the work to any third parties as an investigation was under way. A few Google searches later, he realised he was unwittingly embroiled in the Canadian art heist mystery of the century.
“And so I just waited, and all my friends and guests who came to my house, we would joke about having such an important piece of artwork right before our eyes,” Mr Cassinelli told the Telegraph. “Like having a Mona Lisa… because I paid a few thousand pounds but online I had read it was worth millions. It was as if I was in a film.”
Then, a year ago, an email came from Sotheby’s legal office asking to share his contact details with Canadian police, who, in a video call, told him the whole story and asked him to consider returning it, though his purchase was in good faith and hence he was not obliged.
“I had trusted one of the most important auction houses in the world, and at the time it had not even been reported stolen, so mine was a legitimate purchase.”
For decades, the print from the original negative, signed by the photographer Yousuf Karsh, hung bolted to wood-panelled walls in the reading lounge of the hotel in Ottawa, Canada. It was a tourist attraction and visitors often snapped photos of themselves in front of it.
In the summer of 2022, a hotel employee noticed the picture was hanging unusually and estate managers realised it was a fake – Karsh’s signature was forged. Appeals were made to the public to send in photos, allowing detectives to narrow down the window of when the swap happened.
To erase any doubts that his was the trafficked photo, Mr Cassinelli contacted Italy’s Carabinieri art fraud unit, who agreed to take it in for analysis.
“The day after I handed it over, I went online and bought a cheap $100 poster of the same photograph and put it in the same spot,” said Mr Cassinelli.
Ottawa detectives then joined forces with the Metropolitan Police and the Italian Carabinieri to search for the photo, with help of public tips, forensic analysis and international cooperation using open-source research to identify a suspect.
Jeffrey Iain James Wood, from Powassan, Ontario, was arrested and is facing several charges, including forgery, theft and trafficking.
The story behind the photo is legendary. Karsh, originally from Armenia, made Ottawa his home from 1924 until the 1990s and lived for many years in the hotel. He took pictures of 14,312 people in his career, including Queen Elizabeth II and her father King George VI, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle, Karl Jung and King Faisal, among others.
But it was the black and white portrait of Churchill, snapped in 1941 while the 67-year-old leader was waiting to finish his speech to the Canadian parliament, that brought Karsh international fame.
In his book, Karsh describes how Churchill didn’t want his picture taken and began chomping on a cigar, but said Karsh could take one photograph.
“I held out an ashtray, but he would not dispose of it. 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.”
It was said that an annoyed Churchill exclaimed “You can even make a roaring lion stand still to be photographed” – hence Karsh’s title for the photo.
Since 2013, it is the picture on the Bank of England’s £5 note.
‘It was right to return it’
Though invited as a special guest, Mr Cassinelli regretted he was unable to attend this week’s unveiling in Canada.
“I promised myself to one day go to Ottawa to see my photograph in the place where I know it should stay, because it had been gifted to the hotel by Yousuf Karsh, it is only right that it remains there.”
Sotheby’s reimbursed the purchase and some legal expenses, but Mr Cassinelli still ended up losing a few thousand euros. That, he said, doesn’t matter.
“I like art and I like to collect. I am not in it to be speculative. Had I decided not to return it perhaps there would have been a big compensation worth its actual value, but there was an entire nation searching for it. I just felt it was right to return it. Being Italian, we have had many pieces of art stolen from us, the Mona Lisa in fact has never been given back by France and I know how painful this can be for a populace.”
In the meantime, Mr Cassinelli’s fascination with Churchill continues. He recently went to visit Churchill’s residence in London where an exhibition was also displaying a cheap copy, not even as nice as the one hanging in his home.
“I am happy about my poster. It is not signed of course, but I have told the story many times and it always fascinates and entertains my guests.”
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