Editing Han van Meegeren (section)

==Early years==
Han (diminutive for Henri or Henricus) van Meegeren was born 10 October 1889,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Han van Meegeren |url=https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/54449 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150627015140/https://rkd.nl/explore/artists/54449 |archive-date=2015-06-27 |access-date=2018-10-09 |website=[[RKD]] |language=nl}}</ref> the third of five children of Augusta Louisa Henrietta Camps and Hendrikus Johannes van Meegeren, a French and history teacher at the Kweekschool (training college for schoolteachers) in the provincial city of Deventer.<ref name="NewYorker2008">{{Cite magazine |last=Peter |first=Schjeldahl |date=2008-10-27 |title=Dutch Master |url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/10/27/081027crbo_books_schjeldahl |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228154616/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2008/10/27/081027crbo_books_schjeldahl |archive-date=2009-02-28 |access-date=2009-07-20 |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Kreuger22">{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|p=22}}</ref>

While attending the Higher Burger School, Han met teacher and painter Bartus Korteling (1853–1930) who became his mentor. Korteling had been inspired by Johannes Vermeer and taught van Meegeren Vermeer's techniques.  Korteling had rejected the [[Impressionist]] movement and other modern trends as decadent, degenerate art, and his strong personal influence may have led van Meegeren to do likewise.<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=129–134}}</ref>

[[Image:Meegeren's Rowing Club in Delft -angle B'-.jpg|thumb|left|Han van Meegeren designed this boathouse (the building in the centre, adjoining an old tower in the town wall) for his Rowing Club D.D.S. while studying architecture in Delft from 1907 to 1913.]]
Van Meegeren's father did not share his son's love of art; he often forced Han to write a hundred times, "I know nothing, I am nothing, I am capable of nothing."<ref name="Gree1946a">{{harvnb|Doudart de la Grée|1966}}</ref><ref name="Godley127">{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=127–129}}</ref> Instead, Han's father compelled him to study architecture at the [[Delft University of Technology]] in 1907.<ref name="NewYorker2008" /> He received drawing and painting lessons, as well. He easily passed his preliminary examinations but never took the ''Ingenieurs'' (final) examination because he did not want to become an architect.<ref name="Kreuger22" /> He nevertheless proved to be an apt architect and designed the clubhouse for his rowing club in Delft which still exists (see image).<ref name="Kreuger22" />

In 1913, van Meegeren gave up his architecture studies and concentrated on drawing and painting at the art school in [[The Hague]]. On 8 January 1913, he received the prestigious Gold Medal from the Technical University in Delft for his ''Study of the Interior of the Church of Saint Lawrence'' (Laurenskerk) in Rotterdam.<ref name=Gree1946a/> The award was given every five years to an art student who created the best work, and was accompanied by a gold medal.

On 18 April 1912, van Meegeren married fellow art student Anna de Voogt who was pregnant with their first child.<ref name="Dutton1993">{{Cite book |author=Dutton |first=Denis |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofho0000stei |title=Encyclopedia of Hoaxes |publisher=[[Gale Research]] |year=1993 |isbn=0-8103-8414-0 |editor=Stein |editor-first=Gordon |location=Detroit |chapter=Han van Meegeren (excerpt) |chapter-url=http://denisdutton.com/van_meegeren.htm |url-access=registration |via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> The couple initially lived with Anna's grandmother in [[Rijswijk]], and their son [[Jacques van Meegeren|Jacques Henri Emil van Meegeren]] was born there on 26 August 1912.{{sfn|Kreuger|2007|loc=Chapters II–V, VIII}}