Four Antonello da Messina paintings stolen in Renaissance master's hometown

Four Antonello da Messina paintings stolen in Renaissance master's hometown The burglars struck at the MuMe regional museum in Messina where they made off with three of the remaining five panels that made up an altarpiece known as Polittico di San Gregorio Audacious thieves have stolen four works by the Sicilian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina after bypassing security at a museum in the master artist's home town. The thieves swept past alarm and security systems at the MuMe regional museum in Messina to make off with three of the remaining five panels that made up an altarpiece known as Polittico di San Gregorio. They also took a fourth artwork from a secure display case: a small two-sided painting depicting the Virgin with Child with a Franciscan monk on one side and the Christ on the other. But Lynda Albertson, an art-crime analyst, said the works are instantly recognizable, 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," 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. MuMe director Marisa Mercurio told the ANSA news agency that staff at the museum were devastated by what happened. She said: "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" . She said the theft occurred just before 10pm local time yesterday (Saturday, August 15). The museum is closed today while investigators gather evidence. The theft comes just days after police in the northern Italian city of Parma announced that they had recovered three stolen artworks by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse worth about 10 million euros ($11.5 million). Five people have been detained in the March theft from the Magnani Rocca Foundation located in Parma province.