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


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

18 November 2024 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.'