Han van Meegeren

Han van Meegeren (born the October 10th 1889 with Deventer in the province of Netherlands of Overijssel - the December 30th 1947 with Amsterdam), of its true name Henricus Antonius van Meegeren, was a Dutch painter, a restorer of works of art and a forger. It is considered that it is one of the most skilful forgers in art of the 20th century, since the purchasers whom it succeeded in deceiving gave him between 25 and 30 million dollars. Its life is related to that of the Dutch great painter Johannes Vermeer, died in 1675, painter who had not been particularly famous until the beginning of the twentieth century and of which only approximately 35 of its works reached us.

Its professor, Bartus Korteling, having caused very early at his place the desire to be a painter, van Meegeren was filled with enthusiasm for the marvellous colors which the painters used during the Golden age of the Netherlands.

Unfortunately, his/her father did not share passion for the art of his son and sent it to study architecture in Hogeschool of Delft to prepare with the trade. Han wearied this imposed study well quickly and began with a certain success a career of painter, as a practitioner at the beginning the modern art. It was quickly annoyed and felt it attracted by the declining colors and prospects for certain paintings of the Golden age of the Netherlands. At this time, however, they was the painters of the School of $the Hague, with which Vincent van Gogh had been associated with the beginning of its career, that one placed highest and which was requested from the Netherlands. The art critics disparaged the work of van Meegeren as an imitation which felt tiredness, so that the galleries and the museums did not buy any more its paintings.

Van Meegeren did not remain without being defended in front of these attacks and it étrilla the art critics in an aggressive article published by its magazine De Kemphaan. And like the art critics right-thinking people had attacked it and broken its career, it decided to manufacture imitating forgeries of the tables of well-known artists. It started to copy their styles and their colors with such a perfection that the methods of authentification of the time did not make it possible to detect the fraud. After having spent six years to develop its techniques, it ends up producing imitation perfect of paintings of Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Gerald for the third time Borch and Johannes Vermeer, so much so that even the best art critics and the best experts of this time regarded them as authentic and sometimes brilliant paintings. In this particular activity, it stuck mainly to the creation of forgery Vermeer. Its fabric “the Disciples of Emmaüs” misled in the years 1930 and the 1940 best experts.

It is during the Second world war that van Meegeren knew the apogee of its career: its paintings were hung in the museums and its chief-of works were celebrated in the whole world. The sale of its forgeries was facilitated by the German occupation in the Netherlands. Dutch rich person, wanting to prevent that the works of art of their country fell to the hands from Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, ruaient themselves greedily on the imitations. A forgery “Vermeer”, work of Han van Meegeren, “the Christ and the parabola of the adulteress”, was not found any less in possession of Hermann Goering.

After the Second world war, the Allied Forces discovered this “Vermeer” and its true author was stopped to have collaborated with the Germans, because it was really believed that it had sold to the Nazis a cultural treasure of his country. As such a crime was liable to the capital punishment, van Meegeren preferred to acknowledge falsification and he undertook to clear himself by painting another “Vermeer” in his cell in the presence of six witnesses.

Following a detailed survey, carried out by international experts, it was confirmed that the painting of Goering could not date from the Dutch Golden age and that it was actually a forgery. Han van Meegeren was not any more dedicated to the gémonies as collaborator, but was celebrated by the Dutch public like a subtle swindler, whose forgeries had succeeded in deceiving at the same time the experts and very hated Hermann Goering.

The regional court of justice of Amsterdam did not condemn less Han van Meegeren for forgery and fraud, but was satisfied with it with the minimal sorrow, one year of prison. Van Meegeren did it besides never since on November 26th, 1947, last day to make call of the legal decision, van Meegeren was victim of an heart attack and envoy in Valeriuskliniek, a hospital of Amsterdam, where he died on December 30th, 1947.

List nonexhaustive its pastiches

  1. Disciples of Emmaus (" Vermeer")

  2. the head of Christ (" Vermeer")
  3. the Last Supper, 1st version (" Vermeer")
  4. the Last Supper, 2nd version (" Vermeer")
  5. the Blessing of Jacob (" Vermeer")
  6. the woman taken in fault (" Vermeer")
  7. the washing of the feet (" Vermeer")
  8. the couple with the virginal (" Vermeer")
  9. card players (" Pieter de Hoogh")
  10. beer drinkers (" Pieter de Hoogh")
  11. Woman reading of the music (" Vermeer")
  12. Woman playing of the music (" Vermeer")
  13. Portrait (" Terborgh")
  14. Woman under the influence of alcohol (" Frans Hals")
  15. Jesus and the Doctors (" Vermeer")

Works

Luigi Guarnieri, double life of Vermeer , Actes Sud, 2006,229 p., translated from Italian by Marguerite Pozzoli.

See too

  • False (art)

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