![]() King walked into the chamber, his arms interlocked with Churchill's, and when Karsh turned on his floodlights, Churchill demanded, "What’s this?" "I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture, but I could hardly have dreamed that it would become one of the most widely reproduced images in the history of photography," he said in an excerpt on his website.Īccording to the photographer, Churchill had visited Washington and then Ottawa Canadian prime minister Mackenzie King invited Karsh to join, so he waited in the speaker's chamber, where his lights and camera had been set up the night before. Karsh, the 20th-century photographer who took the photo, said that day changed his life, and his website offers an intimate look into the moments leading up to him taking the portrait. In the famed photo, the former prime minister stares into the lens stoically, his left hand on his hip as his right hand rests on a chair. 'I knew after I had taken it that it was an important picture' Hotel management believes the portrait was nabbed between Christmas Day and Jan. Investigators can compare the portrait in guest photos, distinguish the real one from the fake one, and possibly figure out when the switch was made. Because of this, the hotel asked people who have photos of it to send them in. She spends lots of time showing guests the portrait, and it's common for people to take photos with it. The hotel asked those with information to share it with Ottawa police.ĭumas said there's lots of security at the hotel, including cameras, so management has sent evidence to police. Stolen art: US returns 30 looted antiquities – one weighing more than 3 tons – to CambodiaĪrtistic discoveries: This Vincent Van Gogh self-portrait was accidentally discovered on the back of his painting The hotel also sent him a photo of Karsh’s signature, and estate representatives said it had been forged, Dumas confirmed. When the hotel contacted the director of Karsh’s estate, he immediately knew it wasn't the original portrait. She also said the replacement photo is smaller than the original because it doesn't line up with the wall anchors, and the frame is different compared to others in the collection.īut perhaps one of the most compelling giveaways is the signature. It was actually hanging from a wire like anybody would have at home." "It's a very sophisticated device," Dumas told USA TODAY. The portrait is supposed to be locked into the wall by four anchors, but it wasn't. Hotel staff removed the photo from the wall, and that's when they noticed something was wrong. It discovered the switch when a maintenance employee who cares for the hotel artwork and photography noticed the photo wasn't aligned properly on the wall, said Geneviève Dumas, the hotel's general manager. The hotel said the photograph was replaced with a copy of the original. The portrait, on display at the Fairmont Château Laurier in Ottawa, Canada, was documented by Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in 1941 and installed in 1998, the hotel posted on Facebook Monday. Watch Video: Cambodian ambassador: Looted art 'soul' of cultureĪ famous portrait of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill appears to have found itself at the center of a heist.
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