Four Antonello da Messina Works Stolen from Museum, Thieves Bypass Security Systems

Four of the most important works by Antonello da Messina, one of the greatest names in 15th-century Italian and Renaissance painting, have been stolen from a museum in Messina, Sicily, the city where the artist was born.

The incident occurred on Saturday evening at the Regional Museum of Messina, known as MuMe. The thieves managed to bypass the alarm systems and force open the specially secured cases where the works were kept.

Three of the stolen works are among the five surviving sections of the “Polittico di San Gregorio,” which is considered one of the Sicilian painter’s most important creations.

Originally created on six painted wooden panels, the work was made for the Monastero di San Gregorio, which was destroyed in the 1908 Messina earthquake. The polyptych held particular historical and symbolic significance for the city because it was the only work by Antonello da Messina that had never left his birthplace.

A fourth work was taken by the thieves from a protected display case. It is a small painting executed on both sides: one depicts the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and a Franciscan monk, while the other shows Christ.