Museums across Italy are vying for the chance to add an exceptionally rare Renaissance gem to their collection. This month, the Italian Ministry of Culture acquired the tiny, double-sided painting by the highly influential master Antonello da Messina at Sotheby’s New York for $14.9 million—but where will it end up?

Rumors have swirled that the 15th-century masterpiece–a moving interpretation of Ecce Homo with the image of Saint Jerome in Penitence on its reverse–could head to a number of high-profile institutions, including the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, Venice’s Galleria dell’Accademia, or, most likely, the Capodimonte in Naples.

But what about the Sicilian city of Messina, the artist’s birth city from which he derived his name? A collective of politicians and art specialists from the town are making a compelling bid to bring the magnificent painting back home.

“Antonello is a son of Messina; he belongs to this land,” claimed the art historian Valentina Certo, speaking to the Guardian.

Several local politicians, including the Democratic party’s Fabio Venezia, are also putting pressure on Italy’s culture ministry to send the coveted masterpiece back to Sicily.

Who Was Antonello da Messina?

The celebrated Renaissance Master was born in the bustling harbor city of Messina in 1430. Though he started out working locally as an apprentice, his talents would take him across Italy, including stints in Naples, Rome, Tuscany, and Venice. The painting Ecce Homo, Saint Jerome in Penitence was probably completed in the early 1460s, a period during which Antonello returned to Sicily. He died in Messina in 1479.

Antonello da Messina, Ecce Homo; Saint Jerome in Penitence (ca. 1430-1479) (verso). Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

In the centuries since, Antonello has been recognized for his pivotal role in introducing Flemish-style oil painting techniques to the Italy. His use of rich detail and color produced an arresting naturalism and psychologic depth, with a particular influence on the Venetian School.

“He was a painter of extraordinary stature,” said Certo. “On panels measuring only a few centimeters, he could render his subjects with astonishing detail.”

With only some 40 known paintings by Antonello da Messina, the gift of Ecce Homo, Saint Jerome in Penitence would be a major coup for any museum. The case for Naples’s Capodimonte, widely understood as the most likely destination, is that Antonello received much of his training in Naples under the painter Colantonio and it is where he first discovered Flemish techniques.

But Certo argued that long-neglected Messina would benefit from being reunited with a crucial part of its lost heritage. Referring to a devastating earthquake in 1908, which left much of the city’s historic center in ruins, she said the return of Ecce Homo would “help stitch back together a fragment of the memory and historical identity of Messina.”

A Significant Painting

The Italian museum that is finally chosen to house Ecce Homo will be in fine company: some of Antonello’s best-known paintings include Madonna Sitting in London’s National Gallery, Christ at the Column at the Louvre in Paris, the Polyptych of the Doctors of the Church at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, and another Ecce Homo at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Ecce Homo was estimated to fetch $10 million to $15 million at Sotheby’s Old Masters evening auction in New York on February 5 before it was withdrawn in advance of the sale. Less than a week later, the Italian culture minister announced it had purchased the piece in a private sale for $14.9 million. It’s only the second time in a generation that a painting of such significance had come to market.

According to the Artnet Price Database, Antonello’s auction record stands at $409,853, set at Christie’s London for the 2003 sale of another double-sided painting, The Madonna and Child with a Franciscan monk in adoration (ca. 1455–70).