Thieves Steal Renaissance Painting and Altar Piece in Sicily

Unknown perpetrators stole four 15th-century works by the Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina from the Regional Museum in the Sicilian city of Messina. The theft occurred overnight from Saturday to Sunday, during a national holiday.

Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli expressed deep sorrow over the incident but voiced confidence in the police investigation.

The thieves stole three panels from the rare altarpiece Polittico di San Gregorio, the only work by the artist never to have left his hometown. A small double-sided painting, depicting the Virgin Mary with the Child and a Franciscan monk on one side and Christ on the other, also disappeared from its secured display case. The Sicilian region had acquired the painting at auction in 2003.

The local councilor for culture suggested that the thieves' attention may have been drawn by the state's recent purchase of another of the painter's works for $15m.

The incident came just days after Italian police recovered three other stolen paintings, by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse.

(Reuters, Max)