Four Antonello da Messina Works Stolen from Italian Museum

Four artworks by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina were stolen overnight from the Museo Regionale di Messina, Italian media reported.

The theft deprives Messina of parts of the only surviving work by the Renaissance painter to have remained in his native city, as well as a small painting acquired by the Sicilian Region two decades ago. Thieves entered the museum on the night of August 15, a national holiday in Italy. They took three of the remaining five panels that made up an altarpiece known as Polittico di San Gregorio.

Originally comprising six panels, the altarpiece was the only work by the Sicilian painter to have never left his hometown. The thieves also took a fourth artwork from a secure display case: a small two-sided painting depicting the Virgin with Child and a Franciscan monk on one side and the Christ on the other. This work was part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection and was sold by Christie’s to the Sicilian Region in 2003.

The theft occurred after Italian police on Friday recovered three paintings by Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Matisse that were stolen from a museum near Parma in March. The recovered works were valued at millions of euros, and five Moldovan suspects were detained in connection with that theft. Italian authorities said the gang had carefully planned the heist and was equipped to disable security systems.