THE Victoria & Albert Museum in London has been targeted by professional art thieves for the third time in as many months.

The museum authorities disclosed yesterday that a series of Italian Renaissance bronze plaquettes, worth about £500,000, were stolen on Wednesday.

The theft is the largest of the three robberies and a big embarrassment for the V&A, which, The Times revealed last month, has been severely criticised for its lax security. The museum, in Kensington, West London, appealed for help from the art and antiques world to trace the eight plaquettes, each about 10cm (4in) high and depicting religious scenes.

The items, which date from the 15th and 16th century, were taken during public opening hours by thieves who forced open a wooden-framed showcase. The previous two robberies had been committed using almost exactly the same method. A security overhaul at the V&A that is in progress involves the replacement of all of its older display cases.

Two of the stolen plaquettes are by Riccio — both entitled The Entombment — and are valued at between £100,000 and £150,000 each, the museum said. Three from the workshop of Donatello and three by Moderno are each worth between £30,000 and £45,000.

Mark Jones, director of the V&A, said: “This appears to have been a well-planned, professional theft . . . We are talking to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about how the process of upgrading can be accelerated.”

Last month a security review commissioned by an adviser to the National Trust and English Heritage found that the museum was “horrendously vulnerable”.

The V&A’s Ceramics Galleries, a sprawling series of rooms, were patrolled by just one guard. They have been closed since, pending the installation and testing of new security systems. In October, nine antiques, mostly dating from between the 15th and 19th centuries, were taken from the Ceramics Galleries. The thieves stole £60,000 of Chinese jade objects comprising three small cups, two miniature animal figures, a bowl, two ornamental plaques and a small ritual cylinder.

Last month, a group of 15 small Meissen figures, worth about £2,000 each, were stolen from the same galleries. The figures, which date from the 1750s, are up to 14 cm in height.

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