Italian painter, c. 1425–1479, a master of early Italian Renaissance portraiture
The Italian Culture Ministry has acquired the Tomb of Francois, a 4th-century BC Etruscan tomb, including fresco panels and artifacts, from the Torlonia family. The purchase, part of a broader push to repatriate antiquities, is public on June 30, 2026, and the tomb opens to visitors at Rome’s Villa Giulia museum. The ministry has previously spent on other masterpieces this year.
Thieves have taken three panels from Antonello da Messina's San Gregorio polyptych and a small double-sided devotional panel from the Regional Museum in Messina late on Aug. 15 during the city's Vara procession. Two panels were later abandoned near the museum. Authorities are investigating a likely commissioned theft and probing how alarms were circumvented.
Stolen artworks attributed to Antonello da Messina have been taken from the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina during a late Saturday burglary caught on Assumption Day in the city. Five wooden panels comprising the San Gregorio Polyptych and a small two-sided Virgin and Christ painting have been seized; two panels were left behind near the museum grounds. Authorities suspect the theft was ordered for high-value art trafficking.
A Van Cleef & Arpels necklace designed for an Egyptian royal wedding has been stolen from Vienna’s MAK during an exhibition. Police say two suspects entered with tickets, shattered a display case with a hammer, and fled in an unknown direction. The piece is valued at more than $4 million. The theft is the latest in a string of European museum heists.