Four 'extraordinary' Renaissance paintings stolen from Italian museum

Four 'extraordinary' Renaissance paintings stolen from Italian museum Alessandro Giuli confirmed that three panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio and a double‑sided sheet depicting the Madonna with Christ in Pietà, each attributed to Antonello da Messina, were taken from the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina on Saturday night. Police are investigating how the thieves entered the depository without setting off alarms and who may be responsible. The incident is the latest in a series of museum heists across Europe that have seen an increasing number of priceless works disappear from public view. Investigators are working on the initial suspicion that the paintings were stolen to order by black‑market art thieves, according to the Italian news agency Ansa. Ansa reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà was removed directly from a secured display case, and that all of the taken works were on wooden panels, which prevents them from being easily rolled up. Marisa Mercurio, the museum’s manager, said the theft is believed to have occurred around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT) on Saturday. “We are shocked by what happened,” she told Ansa, describing it as “a large nonaccomplishment for the museum, for the city, the assemblage and the creation world.” Antonello da Messina was a 15th‑century artist born and raised in Sicily who later became one of the early Renaissance’s master painters. His San Gregorio Polyptych, completed in 1473, shows the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus Christ, flanked by St Gregory and St Benedict, together with several angels. Of the original five panels, five survive; the work was commissioned for the monastery of Santa Maria.