Four Renaissance Paintings Stolen From Italian Museum
The theft deprived Messina of parts of the painter’s only surviving hometown altarpiece and a small two-sided panel, museum officials said.
- On the night of August 15, a national holiday in Italy, thieves stole four artworks by 15th century painter Antonello from the Museo Regionale in Messina, Italian media reported citing the museum's directorship.
- The stolen items include three panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio, the only Renaissance work by the painter to remain in his native city, plus a small two-sided painting depicting the Virgin with Child and Christ.
- Originally destined for the Monastero San Gregorio, destroyed by Messina's 1908 earthquake, the altarpiece was the only work by the Sicilian painter to never leave his hometown. The two-sided painting was part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection, purchased by the Sicilian Region.
- Italian police recently recovered paintings by French masters Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Henri Matisse near Parma, though a museum official reached by Reuters stated they could not provide information on the current investigation.
- Born around 1430, Antonello trained in Naples, studying Provençal and Flemish artists whose influence shaped his works. He returned to Messina in 1457, where he worked until 1474, leaving a legacy central to the city's artistic identity.
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The criminal gang managed to bypass the museum's alarm systems and break into a security display case.
Priceless Renaissance Paintings Stolen From Italian Museum
Antonello da Messina, "San Gregorio Polyptych" (1473) (image courtesy Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)Thieves made off with four major paintings by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina in under five minutes in a heist at the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (MuMe) in Sicily on Saturday night, August 15.
Renaissance Works Stolen From Sicilian Museum During Town Feast
Four works by 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Museo Regionale di Messina (MuMe) on August 15. The theft took place during a religious procession known as La Vara, conducted each year in the city of Messina in Sicily to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. The thieves took a […]
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