Four Antonello da Messina Paintings Stolen from Museo Regionale di Messina

Key facts

• Four paintings attributed to Antonello da Messina were stolen from the Museo Regionale di Messina in Sicily.
• The theft occurred on Saturday night during the Ferragosto holiday amid the La Vara religious celebration.
• Thieves bypassed the alarm system and broke a security display case to remove the works.
• Three of the stolen pieces belonged to the Polittico di San Gregorio, a 15th-century altarpiece; the surviving panels were the only Antonello works left in his hometown.
• The fourth painting is a double-sided work from the Wilhelm Soldan collection, acquired at Christie's in 2003.
• Two of the six paintings initially removed were abandoned on a low wall outside the museum.
• The Italian government spent $14.9 million at Sotheby's in February to repatriate Antonello's Ecce Homo.
• The Messina prosecutor's office opened an investigation; the previous Friday, police recovered works by Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse stolen from a private museum near Parma.