Rare Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina stolen from Sicilian museum

Four of the most significant works by the 15th-century Renaissance master Antonello da Messina have been stolen from the Regional Museum of Messina (MuMe) in Sicily. The brazen theft took place on Saturday evening, with thieves potentially using the city's major religious festival, La Vara, and the Ferragosto national holiday as cover.

The thieves bypassed the museum's alarm systems to access a security display case. They stole three of the five surviving panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio, a crucial altarpiece by the Sicilian painter that had never left his hometown. This altarpiece was originally created for the Monastero di San Gregorio before its destruction in the 1908 Messina earthquake.

In addition to the altarpiece panels, a fourth, smaller work was taken. This double-sided painting depicts the Virgin and Child on one side and Christ on the other. The painting had previously been part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection before being acquired by the Sicilian regional government in 2003.

The theft comes shortly after Italian police successfully recovered three paintings by French masters Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse that had been stolen earlier this year from a private museum near Parma. It also follows Italy's significant acquisition of Antonello da Messina's "Ecce Homo" for $14.9 million at a New York auction in February.