I paid £4,200 for a portrait of Churchill - I ended up in scandal

A lawyer who paid £4,200 for a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill thinking it was a cheap copy accidentally ended up in a scandal because it was the stolen original.

Nicola Cassinelli bought the black-and-white 1941 photograph of Churchill scowling down the lens - named The Roaring Lion - for his small art collection in 2022.

The 34-year-old was pleasantly surprised when his £4,200 bid was accepted and two weeks later - after shelling out £2,000 to get it through customs and shipped to Genoa, Italy, it was his.

He showed it off to houseguests proudly and was 'really happy' with the find which -since 2013 - has been on the Bank of England's £5 note.

But neither the lawyer - or the fine arts seller Sotheby's - knew that it was actually the original and could be worth millions.

Three months after the sale, Sotheby's phoned Mr Cassinelli and asked him to keep it safe in his possession as an investigation was underway. 

Intrigued, he searched around online and then discovered he was part of an art heist mystery which had baffled people for years.

It had been nabbed from the hotel lobby of the Fairmont Fairmont Château Laurier in January 2022 and secretly trafficked to Europe.

He said it became a running joke with his friends who visited his home, comparing it to how it must be like owning the Mona Lisa.

He told The Telegraph it was like being in a film, and said he was politely asked by the Canadian Police if he would consider returning the piece after telling him the whole story.

As it hadn't been reported stolen at the time he bought it, it was considered a legitimate sale, he said.

He said: 'I went online and bought a cheap $100 poster of the same photograph and put it in the same spot.

'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 refunded him and some of the legal expenses but Mr Cassinelli lost a few thousand euros - however he said this didn't matter to him. 

'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.'

The portrait of Winston Churchill, regarded as the 'most famous photo' ever taken of the legendary British prime minister, was stolen from a posh hotel in Canada by a thief who swapped it with a fake.

The heist was executed at the Chateau Laurier in Ottawa during the height of the pandemic, and it went undetected for years until a worker noticed that the portrait was askew.

Esteemed Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh took the photo in 1941 after Churchill delivered a rousing wartime speech to the Canadian House of Commons.

By switching the original picture with a copy, the crime was able to go unnoticed.

The fake portrait also bore Churchill's forged autograph, which further disguised its in-authenticity.

When the hotel realised that the photograph might be a fraud, they alerted Jerry Fielder, Karsh's longtime assistant who helped frame and install the portrait over two decades ago.

Believing the picture to be 'very secure' at the hotel, Fielder was shocked when he heard the news.

'I never dreamed that anybody would be able to do this,' he told the Toronto Star.

When Fielder looked at the fake Roaring Lion, he immediately recognised that it was a fraud.

A few moments after examining the forged autograph, Fielder declared that the photograph hanging on the hotel's wall wasn't the original.

He further noted that the quality of the fake portrait, which was little more than a photocopy, was 'awful.'

Ottawa police said that they had tracked the stolen picture to Genoa, Italy, where it was lawfully purchased by an art collector - Mr Cassinelli.

Although investigators originally speculated that the heist bore the mark of a team of professionals, they have since charged one man in connection with the crime.

Jeffrey Iain James Wood, from Powassan, Ontario, was arrested over the theft and is facing charges including forgery, theft and trafficking.

Wood, 43, now faces six charges related to forgery, theft, and possession of stolen property, according to the Toronto Star.

Art experts said that it is incredibly rare for police to recover a piece once it's stolen.

The portrait is celebrated for its complex composition and chiaroscuro lighting. When Karsh took the photo, it solidified his status as one of the world's foremost photographers.

But The Roaring Lion is arguably more famous for its depiction of Churchill, who is scowling at the camera.

Right before he took the picture, Karsh snatched a cigar out of the prime minister's mouth, saying that the smoke would interfere with the image. Karsh said this is what prompted the pugnacious expression on Churchill's face.

Taken at a crucial point during the war, the photograph is also significant for the historical context in which it was captured. In this light, Churchill's scowl comes to represent national strength, defiance, and resolution.