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The theft of a Churchill portrait

The inside story of one of Canada’s most brazen, baffling, and mysterious art heists and how the police cracked it

Churchill exited the House of Commons, downed a scotch and soda, met with the official opposition and members of the country’s press gallery, then followed Mackenzie King toward the speaker’s office, where, unbeknownst to the British prime minister, his Canadian counterpart had invited a local portrait photographer to record a lasting image from the visit. According to the museum’s curator, that camera appears “to have been lost to history.” The little house he kept along the Rideau was torn down long ago, replaced by a subdivision, but inside the Château, visitors willing to pay $3,500 per night can rent the suite that served as his home during the last decades of his life. “Early in this investigation, I recognized that the impact of this theft went beyond a piece of art stolen from a hotel.” The Ottawa police didn’t even notify the public that they’d made an arrest until September 11, when they issued a press release announcing that they were working closely with the Carabinieri and the portrait’s purchaser to ensure its safe return to Canada, where it will be remounted on that oak-panelled wall inside the Château with a new lock and increased security.

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