The works by Antonello da Messina stolen from MuMe are three of the five surviving panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio, signed and dated 1473, as well as a rare double-sided panel with the Madonna and Child and Christ in Pietà. The theft affects a core of works of particular importance for the history of Sicilian Renaissance painting. The Polyptych of San Gregorio is in fact the only work by Antonello remaining in his hometown. Created in 1473 for the monastery annexed to the church of Santa Maria extra moenia, the work was originally composed of six panels, assembled in a wooden structure now lost. Over time the complex was dismantled and one of the panels was lost: before the theft, five panels remained.
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The removal of three of these represents a new and serious mutilation of a work that had already reached our days in fragmentary form. The provenance from the monastery of San Gregorio is documented and directly links the work to the religious and artistic history of 15th-century Messina. The polyptych also bears the artist’s signature and date on a cartouche placed on the central panel.
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Along with the three panels, a small double-sided painted panel was stolen, a work of small size intended for private devotion. On one side is depicted the Madonna with the Blessing Child and a Franciscan in adoration, on the other Christ in Pietà. The panel also has a particular collecting history: it was attributed to Antonello in 2003 and in the same year was sold by Christie’s to the Sicilian Region, coming from the collection of Wilhelm Soldan.
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