A portrait of Winston Churchill famous enough to be on the front of England’s five pound note has been stolen. The Château Laurier Hotel in Ottawa, Canada, has reported that the famous Churchill portrait, taken by Yousuf Karsh, has been replaced with a fake. A hotel employee noticed that the frame on the portrait was different than the other five Karsh photographs on display. Closer inspection of the print’s signature confirmed that the image hanging in the hotel’s reading room was a fake.

The image, often referred to as Churchill’s “Roaring Lion” portrait for the expression the Prime Minister is giving the photographer, was hanging in the hotel’s Reading Room as one of six Karsh prints on display. The hotel was initially unsure of when the real image had been replaced with a fake. But, after announcing the theft, previous guests began sending the photos that they took of the famous image to the hotel. Using those photos, the hotel was able to deduce that the original was still hanging on Dec. 25, 2021; but the fake was in place by Jan. 6, 2022.

“We are deeply saddened by this brazen act,” said Geneviève Dumas, General Manager at Fairmont Château Laurier. “The hotel is incredibly proud to house this stunning Karsh collection, which was securely installed in 1998.”

The Château Laurier owns 15 prints gifted by the photographer, six of which had been hanging in the Reading Room. After the theft, the remaining five images were removed for safekeeping. Karsh, an Armenian refuge who spent much of his life in Canada, once had a studio inside the Château Laurier and also lived in the historic building for almost 20 years. The hotel was also the host of the photographer’s first exhibition. The 20 x 24 inch print itself, in fact, was made in Karsh’s Chateau Laurier studio from an original negative.

The photograph was an important one in Karsh’s career, becoming a catalyst further work. While the expression in the portrait is a powerful one, the story behind it is an amusing one. Churchill had been reportedly irritated that he wasn’t told about the portrait session. When Churchill didn’t put down his cigar in the offered ashtray, the photographer grabbed the cigar out of his mouth, resulting in the belligerent expression the portrait is famous for. Along with the Churchill portrait, Karsh photographed many other prominent figures of the twentieth century, including Queen Elizabeth, Martin Luther King, Ernest Hemmingway, Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, and others.

While the famous Churchill portrait that was stolen is an original made from Yousuf Karsh himself, it’s not the only such original print. According to the New York Times, another signed copy of the same image sold for $62,500 at an auction two years ago. Karsh closed his studios in 1992 and donated his negatives to Library and Archives Canada.