Four Renaissance masterpieces by Antonello da Messina stolen from Italian museum

Four valuable Renaissance masterpieces by renowned painter Antonello da Messina were stolen from the MuMe regional museum in Messina, Sicily, the Associated Press reported.

The heist took place on August 15 during Italy’s nationwide Ferragosto holiday. Three perpetrators bypassed the museum's security systems and alarms, stealing three of the five surviving wooden panels of the 1473 "San Gregorio" polyptych, alongside a rare double-sided icon depicting the Virgin Mary and Christ extracted from an armored display casing.

Museum leadership described the theft as devastating, noting that the stolen works constitute the most significant pieces in the artist's oeuvre. Art crime specialists emphasize that the immense global recognition of the artworks makes any resale on the open market virtually impossible. "Stealing a work by Antonello da Messina is much easier than selling it. If these are common thieves, they will realize this soon enough," art crime expert Lynda Albertson told La Repubblica, adding that such high-profile treasures are often circulated within criminal networks as loan collateral.

N.Tebrizli