Thieves steal Renaissance artworks in Sicilian museum heist on Italian holiday

Thieves have stolen four works attributed to Sicilian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina from a regional museum on the Italian Ferragosto holiday, according to the LaPresse new agency.

The thieves bypassed alarm and security systems on Saturday evening at the MuMe museum in the Sicilian city of Messina.

They made off with three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated from 1473, as well as a double-sided panel depicting the Virgin Mary and dead Christ in Pieta, which was removed from an armoured display case, LaPresse reported.

“We are devastated by what happened. They were two of Antonello da Messina’s most important and best-known works. It is a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world,” MuMe director Marisa Mercurio told the Ansa news agency.

The Italian government in March bought a devotional painting titled Ecce Homo by da Messina for 14.9 million dollars (£11 million) from Sotheby’s auction house in New York, raising the profile of the early Renaissance painter.

Lynda Albertson, an art crime analyst, said the works are instantly recognisable, impeding any effort to sell them through reputable channels.

“Stealing an Antonello may be far easier than selling one. If these are ordinary thieves, they will soon discover that — to their cost,” Ms Albertson, who is the chief executive of the Arca art crimes research association, told the Italian daily La Repubblica.

She said such famous artworks often pass from one criminal to another, serving as collateral for other illicit activity.

The museum was closed on Sunday while investigators gathered evidence.

The Ferragosto holiday, which marks the feast of the Assumption of Mary, is the height of the Italian summer holiday season.

The theft came just days after police in the northern city of Parma announced they had recovered three stolen artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth about 10 million euros (£8.5 million).

Five people have been detained over the March 22-23 theft from the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Parma province.