Valentina Za and Danilo Arnone
Milan: Thieves have stolen 4 works of art by way of Fifteenth-century painter Antonello da Messina from a museum in his Sicilian house the city, a loss to the island’s cultural heritage {that a} native councillor described as a “blow to the guts”.
The robbery deprives Messina of portions of the one surviving paintings by way of the Renaissance painter to have remained in his local town, in addition to a small portray the Sicilian area received a long time in the past.
The thieves entered the Museo Regionale di Messina past due on Saturday, whilst the city used to be busy celebrating Assumption Day, Messina Mayor Federico Basile informed Reuters.
As a part of the celebrations, the folk of Messina escort a carriage with vibrant statues of the Virgin, Jesus and angels during town all through an hours-long procession referred to as “los angeles Vara”.
Enzo Caruso, an area councillor in command of tradition, informed Reuters town have been “actually shocked” by way of the housebreaking.
“To start with, no one may just imagine it,” he added.
Caruso stated the acquisition of an Antonello da Messina piece by way of the Italian state for $US15 million ($21 million) previous this 12 months had most likely put the Messina museum at the criminals’ radar. The museum additionally properties works by way of baroque grasp Caravaggio.
“This used to be virtually undoubtedly a commissioned robbery,” he added.
The thieves stole 5 picket panels that made up an altarpiece measuring 170 centimetres by way of 203 centimetres referred to as Polittico di San Gregorio (or the San Gregorio Polyptych) however deserted two panels simply out of doors the museum.
At the start comprising six forums and destined for an area monastery that used to be destroyed by way of Messina’s 1908 earthquake, the altarpiece used to be the one paintings by way of the Sicilian painter by no means to have left his house the city.
The thieves took a fourth paintings from a protected show case: a small two-sided portray depicting the Virgin with Kid and a Franciscan monk on one facet and Christ at the different.
The paintings used to be a part of the Wilhelm Soldan assortment and used to be offered by way of Christie’s to the Sicilian area in 2003, the 12 months it used to be attributed to Antonello da Messina.
In February, Italy’s Tradition Ministry purchased some other two-sided portray, referred to as Ecce Homo, from Sotheby’s simply prior to it used to be to be offered at public sale.
Born about 1430, Antonello da Messina educated in Naples the place he studied the works of Flemish artists, whose affect is plain in his works. He returned to Messina in 1457, the place he labored till 1474.
The robbery comes days after police within the northern Italian town of Parma announced the recovery of three paintings by French masters Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that have been stolen from a museum there in March.
Reuters
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