Editing Han van Meegeren (section)

==The "perfect forgery"==
In 1932, van Meegeren moved to the southern French village of [[Roquebrune-Cap-Martin]] with his wife. There he rented a furnished mansion called "''Primavera''" and set out to define the chemical and technical procedures that would be necessary to create his perfect forgeries. He bought authentic 17th-century canvases and mixed his own paints from raw materials (such as [[lapis lazuli]], [[white lead]], [[indigo]], and [[cinnabar]]) using old formulas to ensure that they could pass as authentic. In addition, he created his own badger-hair paintbrushes similar to those that Vermeer was known to have used.<ref>{{harvnb|Wynne|2006a}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Dolnick|2008}}</ref>

He came up with a scheme of using [[phenol formaldehyde]] (Bakelite) to cause the paints to harden after application, making the paintings appear as if they were 300 years old. Van Meegeren would first mix his paints with lilac oil, to stop the colours from fading or yellowing in heat. (This caused his studio to smell so strongly of lilacs that he kept a vase of fresh lilacs nearby so that visitors would not be suspicious.)<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=12–13}}</ref> Then, after completing a painting, he would bake it at {{convert|100|°C|°F}} to {{convert|120|°C|°F}} to harden the paint, and then roll it over a cylinder to increase the cracks. Later, he would wash the painting in black [[India ink]] to fill in the cracks.<ref name="Williams">{{Cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Robert C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CG6sBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 |title=The Forensic Historian: Using Science to Reexamine the Past |date=2013 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0765636621 |location=Armonk, N.Y. |language=en-US |access-date=2015-08-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904051651/https://books.google.com/books?id=CG6sBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27 |archive-date=2015-09-04 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=43–56, 86–90}}</ref>

[[File:EmmausgangersVanMeegeren1937.jpg|thumb|left|''The Supper at Emmaus'' (1937)]]
It took van Meegeren six years to work out his techniques, but ultimately he was pleased with his work on both artistic and deceptive levels. Two of these trial paintings were painted as if by Vermeer: ''Lady Reading Music'', after the genuine paintings ''[[Woman in Blue Reading a Letter]]'' at the [[Rijksmuseum]] in Amsterdam; and ''Lady Playing Music'', after Vermeer's ''[[Woman With a Lute Near a Window]]'' hanging in the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in [[New York City]]. Van Meegeren did not sell these paintings; both are now at the [[Rijksmuseum]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/zoeken/search.jsp?value=Meegeren,%20Han%20van&operator=contains&field=name&lang=nl&focus=assets|title=Rijksmuseum Amsterdam - Nationaal Museum voor Kunst en Geschiedenis|publisher=Rijksmuseum.nl|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609060809/http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/zoeken/search.jsp?value=Meegeren,%20Han%20van&operator=contains&field=name&lang=nl&focus=assets|archive-date=2011-06-09}}</ref>

Following a journey to the [[1936 Summer Olympics]] in [[Berlin]], van Meegeren painted ''The Supper at Emmaus''. In 1934 van Meegeren had bought a seventeenth century mediocre Dutch painting, ''The Awakening of Lazarus'', and on this foundation he created his masterpiece ''à la Vermeer''. The experts assumed that Vermeer had studied in Italy, so van Meegeren used the version of [[Caravaggio|Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's]] ''[[Supper at Emmaus (Caravaggio, Milan)|Supper at Emmaus]]'', located at [[Milan]]'s [[Pinacoteca di Brera]], as a model.<ref name= Dutton1993/>  He gave the painting to his friend, attorney [[C. A. Boon]], telling him that it was a genuine Vermeer, and asked him to show it to Dr. [[Abraham Bredius]], the art historian, in [[Monaco]].  In October 1932, Bredius had already published an article about two recently discovered alleged Vermeer paintings, which he defined as "Landscape" and "Man and Woman at a Spinet". He claimed the former to be a fake, and described it as "a landscape of the eighteenth century into which had been imported scraps of the '[[View of Delft]]'" (mostly the Delft [[Nieuwe Kerk (Delft)|New Church]]'s tower). The ''Man and Woman at a Spinet'', instead, not only was judged as an "authentic Vermeer", but also "very beautiful", and "one of the finest gems of the master's œuvre".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=An Unpublished Vermeer |url=https://www.burlington.org.uk/download/article/article_30053.pdf |last=Bredius |first=Abraham |magazine=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs |volume=61 |issue=355 |page=145 |access-date=16 March 2024 |archive-date=16 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316161003/https://www.burlington.org.uk/download/article/article_30053.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> In September 1937, Bredius examined ''The Supper at Emmaus'' and, writing in ''[[The Burlington Magazine]]'', he accepted it as a genuine Vermeer and praised it very highly as "''the'' masterpiece of Johannes Vermeer of Delft".<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Bredius |first=Abraham |date=November 1937 |title=A New Vermeer |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/867022 |access-date=2024-02-23 |magazine=[[The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs]] |pages=210–211 |language=en-GB |volume=71 |issue=416 |issn=0951-0788 |jstor=867022}}</ref><ref name="NewYorker2008" /> The usually required evidences, such as resilience of colours against chemical solutions, white lead analysis, x-rays images, [[Micro-spectrophotometry|micro-spectroscopy]] of the colouring substances, confirmed it to be an authentic Vermeer.<ref name="bianconi1">{{Cite book |last=Bianconi |first=Piero |title=Vermeer |publisher=Gemeinshaftsausgabe Kunstkreis Luzern Buchclub Ex Libris Zürich |year=1967 |page=100 |language=de }}</ref>

The painting was purchased by The Rembrandt Society for [[guilders|fl.]]520,000 (€235,000 or about €4,640,000 today),{{efn|name="inflation calculator fl./€"|To obtain the relative [[present value]] the amount in Dutch Guilders was given for the year 1938 at [http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php inflation calculator from/to Guilders or Euros] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170902122555/http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php |date=2017-09-02 }}}} with the aid of wealthy shipowner Willem van der Vorm, and donated to the [[Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen]] in [[Rotterdam]]. In 1938, the piece was highlighted in a special exhibition in occasion of [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Queen Wilhelmina]]'s Jubilee at a Rotterdam museum, along with 450 Dutch old masters dating from 1400 to 1800. A. Feulner wrote in the "Magazine for [the] History of Art", "In the rather isolated area in which the Vermeer picture hung, it was as quiet as in a chapel. The feeling of the consecration overflows on the visitors, although the picture has no ties to ritual or church", and despite the presence of masterpieces of [[Rembrandt]] and [[Matthias Grünewald|Grünewald]], it was defined as "the spiritual centre" of the whole exhibition.<ref>{{harvnb|Schueller|1953|p=28}}</ref><ref name="bianconi1"/>

[[File:Das letzte Abendmahl von Han van Meegeren (1939).jpg|thumb|250px|Painting ''The Last Supper I'' by Han van Meegeren on 11th art and antiques fair in Rotterdam August 31, 1984. - In the summer of 1938, van Meegeren moved to Nice. 1939 he painted ''The Last Supper I'' in the style of Vermeer.]]
In 1938, van Meegeren moved to [[Nice]],  buying a 12-bedroom estate at Les Arènes de [[Cimiez]] with the proceeds from the sale of the painting. On the walls of the estate hung several genuine Old Masters. Two of his better forgeries were made here, ''Interior with Card Players'' and ''Interior with Drinkers'', both displaying the signature of Pieter de Hooch. During his time in Nice, he painted his ''Last Supper I'' in the style of Vermeer.{{efn|''The Last Supper I'' was recovered in September 1949, during a search of the estate of Dr. [[Paul B. Coremans]]; [[x-ray]] examinations revealed that van Meegeren had reused the canvas of a painting by [[Govert Flinck]].}}

He returned to the Netherlands in September 1939 as the [[Second World War]] threatened. After a short stay in Amsterdam, he moved to the village of [[Laren, North Holland|Laren]] in 1940. Throughout 1941, van Meegeren issued his designs, which he published in 1942 as a large and luxurious book entitled ''Han van Meegeren: Teekeningen I (Drawings nr I)''. He also created several forgeries during this time, including ''The Head of Christ'', ''The Last Supper II'', ''The Blessing of Jacob'', ''The Adulteress'', and ''The Washing of the Feet''—all in the manner of Vermeer. On 18 December 1943, he divorced his wife, but this was only a formality; the couple remained together, but a large share of his capital was transferred to her accounts as a safeguard against the uncertainties of the war.<ref>{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|p=136}}</ref>

In December 1943, the van Meegerens moved to the exclusive [[Keizersgracht]] 321 in Amsterdam.<ref>Boissevain, Jeremy (1996) ''Coping With Tourists: European Reactions to Mass Tourism''. Berghahn Books. p233. {{ISBN|1-57181-878-2}}</ref> His forgeries had earned him between 5.5 and 7.5&nbsp;million guilders (or about US$25–30&nbsp;million today).{{efn|name="multiple"|To obtain the present value in U.S. currency for a given year the number of guilders was divided by the [http://www.measuringworth.org/exchangeglobal/ rate of exchange (guilders or pounds per dollar)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904025015/http://www.measuringworth.org/exchangeglobal/ |date=2010-09-04 }} for that year. The value in U.S. currency for a given year was then entered into the formula at [http://eh.net/hmit/compare/ What is the Relative Value?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514033518/http://eh.net/hmit/compare/ |date=2006-05-14 }} to obtain the present value (Consumer Price Index for 2005).}}<ref name="Bailey234">{{harvnb|Bailey|2002|p=234}}</ref> He used this money to purchase a large amount of real estate, jewellery, and works of art, and to further his luxurious lifestyle. In a 1946 interview, he told Marie Louise Doudart de la Grée that he owned 52 houses and 15 country houses around Laren, among them ''[[gracht]]enhuizen'',  mansions along Amsterdam's [[canal]]s.<ref name=Gree1946a/>

===Hermann Göring===
[[File:Jesus unter den Schriftgelehrten von Han van Meegeren.jpg|thumb|Han van Meegeren's ''Jesus among the Doctors'', also called ''Young Christ in the Temple'' (1945).]]

In 1942, during the [[German occupation of the Netherlands]], one of van Meegeren's agents sold the Vermeer forgery ''Christ with the Adulteress'' to Nazi banker and art dealer [[Alois Miedl]]. Experts could probably have identified it as a forgery; as van Meegeren's health declined, so did the quality of his work. He chain-smoked, drank heavily, and became addicted to [[morphine]]-laced sleeping pills. However, there were no genuine Vermeers available for comparison, since most museum collections were in protective storage as a prevention against war damage.<ref>{{harvnb|Bailey|2002|p=255}}</ref>

Nazi ''[[Reichsmarschall]]'' [[Hermann Göring]] traded 137 [[Nazi plunder|looted paintings]] for ''Christ with the Adulteress''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2008-07-12 |title=How Mediocre Dutch Artist Cast 'The Forger's Spell' |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92483237 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124124838/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92483237 |archive-date=2018-11-24 |access-date=2018-04-03 |work=[[NPR]] |language=en-US}}</ref> On 25 August 1943, Göring hid his collection of looted artwork, including ''Christ with the Adulteress'', in an [[Austria]]n salt mine, along with 6,750 other pieces of artwork looted by the Nazis. On 17 May 1945, Allied forces entered the salt mine and [[List of Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives personnel|Captain Harry Anderson]] discovered the painting.<ref name=Morris>{{Cite news |author-link=Errol Morris |last=Morris |first=Errol |date=2009-06-01 |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/bamboozling-ourselves-part-4/ |title=Bamboozling Ourselves (Part 4) |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |department=Blogs |access-date=2022-11-10}}</ref>

In May 1945, the Allied forces questioned Miedl regarding the newly discovered Vermeer. Based on Miedl's confession, the painting was traced back to van Meegeren. On 29 May 1945, he was arrested and charged with [[fraud]] and [[aiding and abetting]] the enemy. He was remanded to the Weteringschans prison as an alleged [[Pursuit of Nazi collaborators|Nazi collaborator]] and plunderer of Dutch cultural property, threatened by the authorities with the death penalty.<ref name= Wynne2006/> He labored over his predicament, but eventually confessed to forging paintings attributed to Vermeer and Pieter de Hooch.<ref name="Kreuger2007"/> He exclaimed, "The painting in Göring's hands is not, as you assume, a Vermeer of Delft, but a van Meegeren! I painted the picture!"<ref>{{harvnb|Schueller|1953|p=16}}</ref> It took some time to verify this, and van Meegeren was detained for several months in the Headquarters of the Military Command at Herengracht 458 in Amsterdam.<ref>{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|p=146}}</ref>

Van Meegeren painted his last forgery between July and December 1945 in the presence of reporters and court-appointed witnesses: ''Jesus among the Doctors'', also called ''Young Christ in the Temple''<ref>{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|pp=152–155}}</ref> in the style of Vermeer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jesus Among the Doctors |url=http://www.tnunn.ndo.co.uk/doctors.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824023336/http://www.tnunn.ndo.co.uk/doctors.htm |archive-date=2013-08-24 |work=tnunn.ndo.co.uk |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Van Meegeren's Fake Vermeer's |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/misc/van_meegeren.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150826080106/http://www.essentialvermeer.com/misc/van_meegeren.html |archive-date=2015-08-26 |access-date=2012-07-08 |publisher=Essential Vermeer}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2024}} After completing the painting, he was transferred to the fortress prison ''Blauwkapel''. Van Meegeren was released from prison in January or February 1946.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===Trial and prison sentence===
The trial of Han van Meegeren began on 29 October 1947 in Room 4 of the Regional Court in Amsterdam.<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=268–281}}</ref> The collaboration charges had been dropped, since the expert panel had found that the supposed Vermeer sold to Hermann Göring had been a forgery and was, therefore, not the cultural property of the Netherlands. Public prosecutor H. A. Wassenbergh brought charges of forgery and fraud and demanded a sentence of two years in prison.<ref name=Williams/>

[[File:Evidence against Han van Meegeren - pigments.jpg|thumb|250px|Evidence against Han van Meegeren: a collection of pigments.]]
The court commissioned an international group of experts to address the [[Authenticity in art|authenticity]] of van Meegeren's paintings. The commission included curators, professors, and doctors from the Netherlands, Belgium, and England, and was led by the director of the chemical laboratory at the [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium]], [[Paul B. Coremans]].<ref name=Williams/><ref name="Coremans">Coremans, Paul B. (1949). ''Van Meegeren's faked Vermeers and De Hooghs: a scientific examination''. Amsterdam: J. M. Meulenhoff. {{OCLC|2419638}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schueller|1953|pp=18–19}}</ref> The commission examined the eight Vermeer and Frans Hals paintings which Van Meegeren had identified as forgeries. With the help of the commission, Dr. Coremans was able to determine the chemical composition of van Meegeren's paints.<ref>{{harvnb|Lopez|2008|p=215}}</ref>

He found that the paint contained the [[phenol formaldehyde resin|phenolformaldehyde resins]] [[Bakelite]] and Albertol as paint hardeners.<ref name=Williams/><ref name="Bailey253"/><ref>A.H. Huussen, Cahiers uit het Noorden, Zoetermeer 2009; the texts of the original experts report of 10 Jan. 1947 and that of the sentence of the Amsterdam district court 12 Nov 1947 were retrieved by prof. Huussen in 2009.</ref> A bottle had been found in van Meegeren's studio.<ref>Roth, Toni (1971). "Methods to determine identity and authenticity". ''The art and the beautiful home'' 83:81–85.</ref> As Bakelite was not discovered until the 20th century, this proved that the paintings could not be genuine.

The commission also suggested that the dust in the [[craquelure]] was too homogeneous to be of natural origin. It appeared to come from India ink, which had accumulated even in areas that natural dirt or dust would never have reached. The paint had become so hard that alcohol, strong acids, and bases did not attack the surface, a clear indication that the surface had not been formed in a natural manner. The craquelure on the surface did not always match that in the ground layer, which would certainly have been the case with a natural craquelure. Thus, the test results obtained by the commission appeared to confirm that the works were forgeries created by van Meegeren, but their authenticity continued to be debated by some of the experts until 1967 and 1977, when new investigative techniques were used to analyze the paintings (see below).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

On 12 November 1947, the Fourth Chamber of the Amsterdam Regional Court found Han van Meegeren guilty of forgery and fraud, and sentenced him to one year in prison.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1947-11-24 |title=Art: Truth & Consequences |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887772,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091223031454/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,887772,00.html |archive-date=2009-12-23 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="Williams" /> The trial was widely covered in the media, and van Meegeren became a folk hero.<ref name="Keats2013-262">{{harvnb|Keats|2013|p=262}}</ref>