Archive · 16 Aug 2026
Four Antonello da Messina works stolen from museum in hometown
Some very old and famous paintings were stolen from a museum in Messina, a city in Italy.
The paintings were made by a famous artist named Antonello da Messina, who lived about 600 years ago.
Four of his artworks were taken during the night of August 15.
That day is a big holiday in Italy, so it is the peak of the summer season.
The thieves took three parts of a big artwork called the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece.
This art was very special because it had never left the city where the artist was born.
The thieves also took a small painting that shows the Virgin with Child and Christ.
That small painting was bought by the Sicilian Region in 2003.
A museum official said they could not provide any information about the theft.
The police are now looking for the missing artworks.
Four artworks by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina were stolen overnight from the Museo Regionale di Messina in Sicily.
Thieves took three of the five remaining panels of the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece, which had never left the artist's hometown.
A fourth stolen work was a small two-sided painting showing the Virgin with Child and a Franciscan monk on one side and Christ on the other.
The theft occurred on the night of August 15, a national holiday in Italy and the peak of the summer season.
The museum theft took place after Italian police recovered paintings by Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse stolen from a museum near Parma in March.
- Who
- Thieves who broke into the Museo Regionale di Messina, stealing works by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina.
- What
- Four Antonello da Messina artworks were stolen: three panels of the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece and a two-sided painting of the Virgin with Child and Christ.
- When
- Overnight on August 15, a national holiday in Italy and the peak of the summer season.
- Where
- Museo Regionale di Messina, in Messina, Sicily, Italy.
- Why
- The articles do not report a motive for the theft.
- Stolen artworks
- 4 (3 altarpiece panels + 1 two-sided painting)
- Museum
- Museo Regionale di Messina
- Location
- Messina, Sicily, Italy
- Theft date
- Night of August 15 (Italian national holiday)
- Altarpiece affected
- Polittico di San Gregorio (3 of 5 remaining panels)
- Two-sided painting origin
- Wilhelm Soldan collection; sold by Christie's to the Sicilian Region in 2003
- Artist
- Antonello da Messina (born around 1430)
