Four works by Sicilian Renaissance master stolen from Messina museum

In Messina, Sicily, four works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from the local museum on August 15. Mayor Federico Basile informed Reuters that the thieves infiltrated the Museo Regionale di Messina during Assumption Day festivities, including the traditional Vara procession. The band of thieves managed to steal five wooden panels that formed the Polittico di San Gregorio (1473) altarpiece, while discarding the other two panels outside.

The two panels discovered at the scene depicted St Benedict and St Gregory. Originally created for the Monastero di San Gregorio, a monastery demolished in an earthquake in 1908, the remaining panels are now housed at the museum. Additionally, the thieves targeted a double-sided painting from a secure display case, which comprised a Virgin with Child and a Franciscan monk on one side, and Christ on the other.

This piece was part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection, which was sold by Christie's to the Sicilian Region in 2003. Surveillance footage revealed the criminals operated within a two to three-minute window. Christopher Marinello, founder of Art Recovery International, suggested the thieves might not be local, as no one would desecrate their own town in such a manner.

The theft evoked memories of the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner heist in Boston. Museum director Marisa Mercurio emphasized the works' significance to Messina's identity and their artistic and cultural value. Italian Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli expressed dismay over the theft. The National Gallery in London possesses five works by Antonello da Messina, including Portrait of a Man (around 1475-76).

Meanwhile, another panel of Van Eyck's masterpiece is being sought after its disappearance in Ghent next month.