However it happened, it’s clear those who stole a world-famous portrait of Sir Winston Churchill from the Chateau Laurier planned the heist meticulously.Sign up to receive daily headline news from Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc.
The portrait has a significant connection to the Chateau Laurier itself. The photographer, Yousuf Karsh, lived in the hotel for 18 years. It was home to his studio for 20 years. The Karsh Estate says the photographer’s entire portfolio of 350,000 prints and negatives was turned over to Library and Archives Canada upon his death in 1992, and no further copies were to be made.Sotheby’s in London had one up for auction in 2020, valued between US$20,000 and $26,000. The auction house declined to disclose the final price.One more hangs in the chamber of the Speaker of the House of Commons, near the very spot it was taken.
Oddly, the timing of its discovery last week is almost 50 years after the largest art heist in Canadian history was pulled off in Montreal.Article contentOn Sept. 4, 1972, a man scaled a tree near the Museum of Fine Arts in the middle of the night. He lowered a ladder from the roof to two others, who made their way to a skylight that was under repair.
“It can be looked at as a matter of national security,” Czegledi said. “We’re seeing some terrorists and organized crime diversifying their portfolio in the art world.”