Four Renaissance paintings stolen from Messina museum

Four significant works by the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Regional Museum of Messina in Italy. The thieves are believed to have exploited the city's busy Ferragosto holiday, a national celebration on August 15th, when public attention was focused on a large religious festival called "La Vara."

The perpetrators entered the museum, known as MuMe, on a Saturday evening. They bypassed alarm systems, broke into a security display case, and stole four wooden panels painted by da Messina. Three of these panels were part of the Polittico di San Gregorio, a polyptych considered one of the Sicilian painter's most important works. Originally six panels for the Monastery of San Gregorio, which was destroyed in the 1908 Messina earthquake, this polyptych was the only work by the artist that had never left his hometown.

A fourth artwork, a small double-sided panel depicting the Virgin and Child with a Franciscan friar on one side and Christ on the other, was also taken from a secure display. This piece was part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection and was acquired by the regional government of Sicily in 2003, the same year it was attributed to da Messina. The artist, born around 1430, trained in Naples and was influenced by Provençal and Flemish artists.