Michelangelo theft was ‘an inside job’

The theft of two rare handwritten documents by Michel­angelo, whose frescoes adorn the ceiling and one wall of the Sistine Chapel, could only have been an “inside job”, the former head of the Vatican museums has said, writes Hannah Roberts.

A former Vatican employee has reportedly agreed to return the docu­ments, one of which is a signed letter, for between €100,000 and €200,000 (£70,655-£141,285). The Vatican authorities discovered that they were missing from the offices of the Fabbrica of St Peter’s Basilica 18 years ago but did not publicise the theft.

The former director of the Vatican Museums, Franco Buranelli, said: “These areas [of the archive] are not easy to access. It must have been an inside man working in the archives who knew how to gain possession of the document and be able to get it out.”

He said it would be impossible for thieves to sell the documents. “Every letter by Michelangelo is of immense value. The loss of any nugget by the great Renaissance masters is serious,” he told Rome-based newspaper Il Messaggero.

He said that the letter most likely concerned art commissioned by the Pope.