Thieves steal Renaissance artworks in museum heist during Italian holiday | Arts and Culture News
Thieves Target Sicilian Museum, Steal Renowned Works by Antonello da Messina
MESSINA, Italy — Thieves stole four significant Renaissance works by Antonello da Messina from the MuMe Regional Interdisciplinary Museum in Messina on Saturday night, with the total value estimated at up to 80 million euros (approximately $93 million).
The theft occurred around 9:50 p.m. local time (19:50 GMT) during the Ferragosto holiday, when many locals were distracted by the traditional Vara procession, which drew large crowds and police presence in central Messina, according to cultural officials and local media.
Reports from the Italian news outlet Il Giornale dell’Arte suggest that the perpetrators utilized the distraction from the festivities to carry out the heist. They cut through metal fencing along Viale Annunziata to access museum grounds, then forced open a side door to reach the gallery. Inside, they breached an armored glass display case to steal a small, double-sided tempera panel dating to 1465-1474. This piece, featuring the Virgin and Child with a Franciscan Monk on one side and Christ in Pietà on the other, was acquired by the Sicilian region at a Christie’s auction in 2003 after its attribution to Antonello.
Additionally, the thieves dismantled three key sections of the historic San Gregorio Polyptych, the only surviving masterpiece by Antonello from his hometown. The polyptych was commissioned in 1473 for the monastery of Santa Maria, which was destroyed in the 1908 earthquake. Remaining two panels depicting Saint Benedict and Saint Gregory were later found abandoned against a wall near the museum’s vicinity.
“We are devastated by what happened. They were two of Antonello da Messina’s most important and best-known works,” museum director Marisa Mercurio told the Italian news agency ANSA.
Enzo Caruso, the local culture councillor, expressed shock at the boldness of the theft, likening it to a “real movie-style heist like at the Louvre.” He noted that interest in Antonello’s works had surged after the Italian Culture Ministry recently purchased one of his paintings, Ecce Homo, for $14.9 million.
According to Lynda Albertson, CEO of the ARCA art crimes research association, while stealing a piece by Antonello may be achievable, selling it is far more challenging due to its high profile and the extensive history surrounding the stolen panels. Such artworks rarely change hands in the market and often circulate in the criminal underworld as leverage for illicit activities.
Antonello da Messina, who was born in Sicily around 1430, is recognized as one of the key masters of the early Italian Renaissance. His surviving works are considered irreplaceable treasures of cultural heritage.
This incident follows a separate case in Parma, where police recently recovered three stolen paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse, valued at approximately $11.5 million.
