Editing Han van Meegeren

{{Short description|Dutch painter and art forger (1889–1947)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}{{family name hatnote|van Meegeren|Meegeren|lang=Dutch}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Han van Meegeren
| image              = VanMeegeren1945 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Van Meegeren painting ''[[Finding in the Temple|Jesus Among the Doctors]]'' in 1945
| birth_name         = Henricus Antonius van Meegeren
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1889|10|10|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Deventer]], Netherlands
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1947|12|30|1889|10|10|df=y}}
| death_place        = [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| occupation         = Painter, art forger
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Anna de Voogt|18 April 1912|19 July 1923|end=divorce}}
* {{marriage|Jo Oerlemans|1928}}
}}
| children           = [[Jacques van Meegeren|Jacques Henri Emil]]
}}

'''Henricus Antonius''' "'''Han'''" '''van Meegeren''' ({{IPA|nl|ɦɛnˈrikʏs ɑnˈtoːnijəs ˈɦɑɱ vɑ ˈmeːɣərə(n)}}; 10 October 1889 – 30 December 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the most ingenious [[Art forgery|art forgers]] of the 20th century.<ref name="Dutton2005">{{Cite book |author=Dutton, Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-26tL4shIPkC |title=The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=0-19-927945-4 |editor=Jerrold Levinson |location=Oxford [Oxfordshire] |pages=261–263 |language=en-GB |chapter=Authenticity in Art |author-link=Denis Dutton |access-date=2016-09-23}}</ref> Van Meegeren became a national hero after [[World War II]] when it was revealed that he had sold a forged painting to ''[[Reichsmarschall]]'' [[Hermann Göring]] during the [[Nazi occupation of the Netherlands]].

Van Meegeren attempted to make a career as an artist, but art critics dismissed his work. He decided to prove his talent by forging paintings from the [[Dutch Golden Age painting|Dutch Golden Age]]. Leading experts of the time accepted his paintings as genuine 17th-century works, including art collector [[Abraham Bredius]].

During World War II, Göring purchased one of van Meegeren's "[[Johannes Vermeer|Vermeers]]", which became one of his most prized possessions. Following the war, van Meegeren was arrested on a charge of selling cultural property to the Nazis. Facing a possible death penalty, he confessed that the painting was a forgery, and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to one year in prison. However, he died less than two months later after suffering from two heart attacks. A biography in 1967 estimated that van Meegeren duped buyers out of more than US$30{{Nbsp}}million, his victims including the Dutch government.{{efn|Equivalent of the total amount in dollars stated by Kilbracken in Appendix II, a biography published in 1967, {{Cite web | url=https://www.dollartimes.com/inflation/inflation.php?amount=30&year=1967 | title=Calculate the Value of $30 in 1967. How much is it worth today? }}}}

==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}}

==Career as a legitimate painter==
[[Image:Princess Juliana's deer.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Deer'' (or "''Hertje''") is one of Han van Meegeren's best-known original drawings.]]
In 1914, van Meegeren moved his family to [[Scheveningen]] and completed the diploma examination at the [[Royal Academy of Art (The Hague)|Royal Academy of Art]] in The Hague,<ref name="Kreuger22" /> which allowed him to teach. He took a position as the assistant to the Professor of Drawing and Art History. In March 1915, his daughter Pauline was born, later called Inez.<ref name="Kreuger22" /> To supplement his small salary of 75 [[Dutch gulden|guldens]] per month, Han sketched posters and painted pictures for [[Christmas card]]s, [[still-life]], landscapes, and portraits for the commercial art trade.<ref name= Dutton1993/> Many of these paintings are quite valuable today.<ref name="Kreuger2007">{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007}}</ref>

Van Meegeren's first exhibition was held from April to May 1917 at the [[Kunstzaal Pictura]]<ref>''Tentoonstelling van schilderijen, acquarellen, en teekeningen door H. A. van Meegeren''. The Hague: ''Kunstzaal Pictura'', 1917.</ref> in the Hague.  In December 1919, he was accepted as a member by the [[Haagse Kunstkring]], an exclusive society of writers and painters who met weekly on the premises of the [[Binnenhof|Ridderzaal]]. Although he had been accepted, he was ultimately denied the position of chairman.<ref>{{harvnb|Lopez|2008|p=98}}</ref> He painted the tame [[roe deer]] belonging to [[Juliana of the Netherlands|Princess Juliana]].  The painting, ''Hertje'' (''The Fawn'' or ''The Deer''), was completed in 1921, and became popular in the Netherlands. He undertook numerous journeys to Belgium, France, Italy, and England, and acquired a name for himself as a portraitist, earning commissions from English and American socialites who spent their winter vacations on the [[Côte d'Azur]]. His clients were impressed by his understanding of the 17th-century techniques of the [[Dutch masters]]. Throughout his life, van Meegeren signed his own paintings with his own signature.<ref>{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|p=208}}</ref>

By all accounts,{{which|date=March 2023}} infidelity{{whose|date=May 2018}} was responsible for the breakup of Van Meegeren's marriage to Anna de Voogt; the couple divorced on 19 July 1923.<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=143–147}}</ref><ref name= "Bailey253">{{harvnb|Bailey|2002|p=253}}</ref> Anna moved to [[Paris]], where van Meegeren visited his children from time to time. He dedicated himself to [[portrait]]ure and began producing forgeries to increase his income.<ref>{{harvnb|Kreuger|2007|pp=46, 56}}</ref>

He married actress Johanna Theresia Oerlemans in [[Woerden]] in 1928, with whom he had been living for the past three years. Johanna's stage name was Jo van Walraven, and she had previously been married to [[art critic]] and journalist Dr. C H. de Boer (Carel de Boer). She brought their daughter Viola into the van Meegeren household.<ref name= Dutton1993/>

==Rejection by the critics==
[[Image:Residence Villa Primavera of Han van Meegeren 1932-1938 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Avenue des Cyprès 10, France 1.jpg|thumb|upright|Han van Meegeren's mansion Primavera in [[Roquebrune-Cap-Martin]] where he painted his forgery ''The Supper at Emmaus'' in 1936, which sold for about US$300,000]]
Van Meegeren had become a well-known painter in the Netherlands with the success of ''Hertje'' (1921) and ''Straatzangers'' (1928).<ref name= Dutton1993/> His first legitimate copies were painted in 1923, his ''Laughing Cavalier'' and ''Happy Smoker'', both in the style of [[Frans Hals]]. By 1928, the similarity of van Meegeren's paintings to those of the [[Old Master]]s began to draw the reproach of Dutch art critics, who said that his talent was limited outside of copying other artists' work.<ref name="Godley127"/>

One critic wrote that he was "a gifted technician who has made a sort of composite [[facsimile]] of the Renaissance school, he has every virtue except originality".<ref name="Wynne2006">{{Cite news |last1=Wynne |first1=Frank |last2=Davies |first2=Serena |date=2006-05-08 |title=The forger who fooled the world |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3654259/The-forger-who-fooled-the-world.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404145820/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3654259/The-forger-who-fooled-the-world.html |archive-date=2019-04-04 |access-date=2012-06-15 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |location=London |language=en-GB}}</ref> Van Meegeren responded in a series of aggressive articles in ''De Kemphaan'' ("The Ruff"), a monthly periodical published by van Meegeren and journalist Jan Ubink from April 1928 until March 1930.<ref>Van Meegeren, Han (partly under alias) (April 1928–March 1930). ''De Kemphaan''.</ref> Jonathan Lopez writes that van Meegeren "denounced modern painting as 'art-Bolshevism' in the articles, described its proponents as a 'slimy bunch of woman-haters and negro-lovers,' and invoked the image of 'a Jew with a handcart' as a symbol for the international art market".<ref name="NewYorker2008" /><ref name="LTimes20210219">{{Cite news |last=Campbell-Johnston |first=Rachel |date=2021-02-19 |title=The Last Vermeer: how one man's counterfeits duped the art world |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/article/the-last-vermeer-how-one-mans-counterfeits-duped-the-art-world-rmw5f0kfx |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220013423/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-last-vermeer-how-one-mans-counterfeits-duped-the-art-world-rmw5f0kfx |archive-date=2021-02-20 |access-date=2021-02-20 |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Van Meegeren set out to prove to the art critics that he could more than ''copy'' the Dutch Masters; he would produce a work to rival theirs.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

==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>

==Death==
While waiting to be moved to prison, van Meegeren returned to his home, where his health continued to decline. During this last month of his life, he strolled freely around his neighbourhood.<ref>Wallace, Irving. 'The Man Who Swindled Goering', in ''The Sunday Gentleman''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965 (originally published 1946).</ref>

Van Meegeren suffered a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]] on 26 November 1947, the last day to appeal the ruling, and was rushed to the Valeriuskliniek, a hospital in Amsterdam.<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|p=282}}</ref> While at the hospital, he suffered a second heart attack on 29 December, and was pronounced dead at 5:00&nbsp;pm on 30 December 1947 at the age of 58. Soon after his death, a plaster death mask was made, which was acquired by the [[Rijksmuseum]] in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zoeken |url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/zoeken/objecten |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=Rijksmuseum |language=nl}}</ref><ref name="Scholte">{{Cite web |date=2014-09-24 |title=Janet Wasserman – Han van Meegeren and his portraits of Theo van der Pas and Jopie Breemer (3) |url=http://robscholtemuseum.nl/janet-wasserman-han-van-meegeren-and-his-portraits-of-theo-van-der-pas-and-jopie-breemer-3/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522050052/http://robscholtemuseum.nl/janet-wasserman-han-van-meegeren-and-his-portraits-of-theo-van-der-pas-and-jopie-breemer-3/ |archive-date=2015-05-22 |access-date=2015-09-02 |website=Rob Scholte Museum |language=en}}</ref> His family and several hundred of his friends attended his funeral at the Driehuis Westerveld Crematorium chapel. In 1948, his urn was buried in the general cemetery in the village of [[Diepenveen]] (municipality of Deventer).<ref>{{Cite web |author=ten Dam |first=René |title=Dood in Nederland |trans-title=Dead in the Netherlands |url=http://www.dodenakkers.nl/beroemd/kunst/165-meegeren.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716143215/http://www.dodenakkers.nl/beroemd/kunst/165-meegeren.html |archive-date=2011-07-16 |access-date=2007-05-25 |website=Stichting Dodenakkers |language=nl}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=February 2024}}

==Aftermath==
[[Image:Van Meegeren's nalatenschap onder de hamer-510337.ogv|thumb|250px|The auction of the estate of Han van Meegeren (in Dutch).]]
After his death, the court ruled that van Meegeren's estate be auctioned and the proceeds from his property and the sale of his counterfeits be used to refund the buyers of his works and to pay [[income tax]]es on the sale of his paintings. Van Meegeren had filed for [[bankruptcy]] in December 1945. On 5 and 6 September 1950, the contents of his Amsterdam house were auctioned, along with 738 other pieces of furniture and works of art, including numerous paintings by old and new masters from his private collection. The house was auctioned separately on 4 September.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The proceeds amounted to 123,000 guilders. Van Meegeren's unsigned ''The Last Supper&nbsp;I'' was bought for 2,300 guilders, while ''Jesus among the Doctors'' (which van Meegeren had painted while in detention) sold for 3,000 guilders (about US$800, or about US$7,000 today).{{efn|name="multiple"}} Today the painting hangs in a [[Johannesburg]] church. The sale of the entire estate amounted to 242,000 guilders<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1950-09-18 |title=Art: Not for Money |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,813267,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131124524/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,813267,00.html |archive-date=2011-01-31 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |language=en-US}}</ref> (about US$60,000, or about US$500,000 today).{{efn|name="multiple"}}

Throughout his trial and bankruptcy, van Meegeren maintained that his second wife Jo had nothing to do with his forgeries. A large part of his considerable wealth<ref>{{Cite web |title=Authentication in Art List of Unmasked Forgers |url=http://authenticationinart.org/aia-archive/aia-unmasked-forgers/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052056/http://authenticationinart.org/aia-archive/aia-unmasked-forgers/ |archive-date=2017-12-22 |access-date=2017-12-21 |website=Authentication in Art |language=en}}</ref> had been transferred to her when they divorced, and the money would have been confiscated if she had been ruled to be an accomplice.  Though some biographers believe she must have known the truth,<ref name="Godley127"/> her involvement was never proven and she was able to keep her substantial capital. Jo outlived her husband by many years, in luxury, until her death at the age of 91.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

===M. Jean Decoen's objection===
M. Jean Decoen, a Brussels art expert and restorer, stated in his 1951 book he believed ''The Supper at Emmaus'' and ''The Last Supper&nbsp;II'' to be genuine Vermeers, and demanded that the paintings should again be examined. He also claimed that van Meegeren used these paintings as a model for his forgeries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Decoen |first=Jean |title=Retour à la véritè, Vermeer-Van Meegeren: Deux Authentiques Vermeer |publisher=Editions Ad. Donker |year=1951 |location=Rotterdam |language=nl |trans-title=Back to the truth, Vermeer-Van Meegeren: Two genuine Vermeer |oclc=3340265}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Schueller|1953|pp=48–58}}</ref> Daniel George Van Beuningen, the buyer of ''The Last Supper&nbsp;II'', ''Interior with Drinkers'', and ''The Head of Christ'', demanded that Dr. Paul Coremans publicly admit that he had erred in his analysis. Coremans refused and Van Beuningen sued him, alleging that Coremans's wrongful branding of ''The Last Supper&nbsp;II'' diminished the value of his "Vermeer" and asking for compensation of £500,000 (about US$1.3&nbsp;million, or about US$10&nbsp;million today).{{efn|name="multiple"}}

The first trial in Brussels was won by Coremans, because the court adopted the same reasoning of the court ruling at van Meegeren's trial. A second trial was delayed owing to van Beuningen's death on 29 May 1955. 
In 1958 the court heard the case on behalf of van Beuningen's heirs. Coremans managed to give the definitive evidence of the forgeries by showing a photograph of a ''Hunting Scene'', attributed to [[Abraham Hondius|A. Hondius]], exactly the same scene which was visible with [[X-ray]] under the surface of the alleged Vermeer's ''Last Supper''. Moreover, Coremans brought a witness to the courtroom who confirmed that van Meegeren bought the ''Hunt scene'' in 1940.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bianconi |first=Piero |title=Vermeer |publisher=Gemeinshaftsausgabe Kunstkreis Luzern Buchclub Ex Libris Zürich |year=1967 |page=101 |language=de}}</ref> The court found in favour of Coremans, and the findings of his commission were upheld.<ref>{{harvnb|Godley|1951|pp=256–258}}</ref>

===Further investigations===
In 1967, the Artists Material Center at [[Carnegie Mellon University]] in [[Pittsburgh]] examined several of the "Vermeers" in their collection, under the direction of Robert Feller and Bernard Keisch. The examination confirmed that several of their paintings were in fact created using materials invented in the 20th century. They concluded that they could be van Meegeren forgeries. The test results obtained by the Carnegie Mellon team are summarized below.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Han van Meegeren knew that [[white lead]] was used during Vermeer's time, but he had to obtain his stocks through the modern colour trade.  In the 17th century, lead was mined from deposits located in the Low Countries; however, by the 19th century, most lead was imported from Australia and the Americas, and differed both in [[isotope]] composition and in the content of trace elements. Dutch white lead was extracted from ores containing high levels of trace elements of [[silver]] and [[antimony]],<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=Analysis of investigations of pigments from paintings of south German painters in the 17th and 18th century |last=Strauss |first=R. |date=1968 |publisher=[[Technical University Munich]]}}</ref> while the modern white lead used by van Meegeren contained neither, as those elements are separated from the lead during the modern [[smelting]] process.<ref name= False>Exhibition catalog Essen and Berlin. ''Falsification and Research'' (1976) "Museum Folkwang, Essen and Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin". Berlin. Language: German. {{ISBN|3-7759-0201-5}}.</ref>

Forgeries in which modern lead or white lead pigment has been used can be recognized by using a technique called Pb(Lead)-210-Dating.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Keisch|first=B.|title=Dating Works of Art through Their Natural Radioactivity: Improvements and Applications|doi=10.1126/science.160.3826.413|journal=Science|volume=160|issue=3826|pages=413–415|year=1968|pmid=17740234|bibcode=1968Sci...160..413K|s2cid=38078513}}</ref> [[Pb-210]] is a naturally occurring radioactive isotope of lead that is part of the [[uranium-238]] [[Decay chain|Radioactive decay series]], and has a [[half-life]] of 22.3 years. To determine the amount of Pb-210, the [[alpha radiation]] emitted by another element, [[polonium-210]] (Po-210), is measured.<ref>Flett,  Robert (8 October 2003). [http://www.flettresearch.ca/Webdoc4.htm Understanding the Pb-210 Method.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019010637/http://www.flettresearch.ca/Webdoc4.htm |date=2017-10-19 }}</ref> Thus it is possible to estimate the age of a painting, within a few years' span, by extrapolating the Pb-210 content present in the paint used to create the painting.<ref name=False/><ref>Froentjes, W., and R. Breek (1977). "A new study into the identity of the [portfolio] of van Meegeren". ''Chemical Magazine'': 583–589.</ref>

The white lead in the painting ''The Supper at Emmaus'' had polonium-210 values of 8.5±1.4 and [[radium-226]] (part of the uranium-238 radioactive decay series) values of 0.8±0.3. In contrast, the white lead found in Dutch paintings from 1600 to 1660 had polonium-210 values of 0.23±0.27 and radium-226 values of 0.40±0.47.<ref name="keisch1967">{{Cite journal |last1=Keisch |first1=B. |last2=Feller |first2=R. L. |last3=Levine |first3=A. S. |last4=Edwards |first4=R. R. |year=1967 |title=Dating and Authenticating Works of Art by Measurement of Natural Alpha Emitters |journal=Science |volume=155 |issue=3767 |pages=1238–1242 |bibcode=1967Sci...155.1238K |doi=10.1126/science.155.3767.1238 |pmid=17847535 |s2cid=23046304}}</ref>

In 1977, another investigation was undertaken by the States forensic labs of the Netherlands using up-to-date techniques, including [[gas chromatography]], to formally confirm the origin of six van Meegeren forgeries that had been alleged to be genuine Vermeers, including the ''Emmaus'' and the ''Last Supper''. The conclusions of the 1946 commission were again reaffirmed and upheld by the Dutch judicial system.<ref>Nieuw onderzoek naar het bindmiddel van Van Meegeren (New investigations in the chemicals of Han van Meegeren), Chemisch Weekblad Nov. 1977. {{in lang|nl}}.</ref>

In 1998, [[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]] ran a TV program called ''Scams, Schemes & Scoundrels'' highlighting van Meegeren's life and art forgeries, many of which had been confiscated as Nazi loot. The program was hosted by skeptic [[James Randi]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In July 2011, the BBC TV programme ''[[Fake or Fortune]]'' investigated a copy of [[Dirck van Baburen]]'s ''[[The Procuress (Dirck van Baburen)|The Procuress]]'' owned by the Courtauld Institute.<ref name="FoF4">{{Cite episode|title=Rembrandt|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012m6p5|access-date=2011-08-04|series=Fake or Fortune?|network=[[BBC]]|airdate=2011-07-10|number=4|archive-date=2011-08-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806231701/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012m6p5|url-status=live}}</ref> Opinion had been divided as to whether it was a 17th-century studio work or a van Meegeren fake.<ref name="FoF4" /> The programme used chemical analysis of the paint to show that it contained [[bakelite]] and thus confirmed that the painting was a 20th-century fake.<ref name="FoF4" />

==Legacy==
[[Image:Van Meegeren signatures.jpg|thumb|A collection of genuine and fake signatures of Han van Meegeren]]

In 2008, [[Harvard]]-educated art historian [[Jonathan Lopez (writer)|Jonathan Lopez]] published ''The Man Who Made Vermeers, Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han Van Meegeren''. His extensive research confirmed that van Meegeren started to make forgeries, not so much because of feeling misunderstood and undervalued by art critics as some maintain, but for the income that it generated, which he needed to support his addictions and lavish lifestyle.{{sfn|Lopez|2008}}{{Page needed|date=August 2024}}

Van Meegeren's father was said to have once told van Meegeren, "You are a cheat and always will be."<ref>{{harvnb|Doudart de la Grée|1966|pp=145, 230}}</ref> Van Meegeren sent a signed copy of his own art book to [[Adolf Hitler]], which turned up in the Reich Chancellery in Berlin complete with an inscription (in German): "To my beloved Führer in grateful tribute, from H. van Meegeren, Laren, North Holland, 1942". He only admitted the signature was his own, although the entire inscription was by the same hand.<ref name="NewYorker2008" /><ref name="LTimes20210219" />  He bought up homes of several departed Jewish families in Amsterdam and held lavish parties while much of the country was hungry.{{cn|date=November 2024}} On the other hand, his brothers and sisters perceived him as loyal, generous, and affectionate, and he was always loving and helpful to his own children.{{cn|date=November 2024}}

Van Meegeren continued to paint after he was released from prison, signing his works with his own name. His new-found profile ensured quick sales of his new paintings, often selling at prices that were many times higher than before he had been unmasked as a forger. Van Meegeren also told the news media that he had "an offer from a Manhattan gallery to come to the U.S. and paint portraits 'in the 17th-century manner' at US$6,000 a throw".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1946-11-18 |title=Art: The Price of Forgery |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777318,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219230324/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,777318,00.html |archive-date=2011-02-19 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|TIME]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

A Dutch opinion poll conducted in October 1947 placed Han van Meegeren's popularity second in the nation, behind only the [[Louis Beel|Prime Minister's]] and slightly ahead of [[Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld|Prince Bernhard]], the husband of [[Juliana of the Netherlands|Princess Juliana]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lopez|2008|p=214}}</ref> The Dutch people viewed van Meegeren as a cunning trickster who had successfully fooled the Dutch art experts and, more importantly, Hermann Göring himself. In fact, according to a contemporary account, Göring was informed that his "Vermeer" was actually a forgery and "[Göring] looked as if for the first time he had discovered there was evil in the world".<ref name=Wynne2006/> Lopez, however, suggests Göring may never have known the painting was a fake.<ref name="NewYorker2008"/>

Lopez argued that Han van Meegeren's defence during his trial in Amsterdam was a masterpiece of trickery, forging his own personality into a true Dutchman eager to trick his critics and also the Dutch people by pretending that he sold his fake Vermeer to Göring because he wanted to teach the Nazi a lesson.<ref>{{harvnb|Lopez|2008|pages=218–219}}</ref> Van Meegeren remains one of the most ingenious art counterfeiters of the 20th century.<ref name="Bailey234"/> After his trial, however, he declared, "My triumph as a counterfeiter was my defeat as [a] creative artist."<ref>{{harvnb|Doudart de la Grée|1966|p=224}}</ref>

==List of forgeries==

===Known forgeries===
[[File:The Procuress forgery by Han van Meegeren from the Courtauld Gallery.jpg|thumb|Han van Meegeren's [[forgery]] of ''The Procuress'' by [[Dirck van Baburen]]]]
[[File:Malle Babbe, Han van Meegeren.jpg|thumb|A painting by Han van Meegeren in imitation of [[Frans Hals]]' ''[[Malle Babbe]]''|alt=A painting by Han van Meegeren in imitation of Frans Hals' Malle Babbe]]

List of known forgeries by Han van Meegeren (unless specified differently, they are after Vermeer):<ref>Van Brandhof, Marijke (1979). ''Early Vermeer 1937. Contexts of life and work of the painter/falsifier Han van Meegeren''. (Catalogue of Han van Meegeren work pp. 153–163, with numerous illustrations of the pictures with the signature H. van Meegeren.) Dissertation. Utrecht: The Spectrum.</ref><ref>De Boer, H., and Pieter Koomen (1942). ''Photographs of the paintings of Han van Meegeren'': Han van Meegeren (Teekeningen I). With a preface by Drs-Ing. E. A. van Genderen Stort. 'sGravenhage: Publishing House L. J. C. Boucher.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1= Kostelanetz |first1=Richard|title=A dictionary of the avant-gardes |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2001 |page= 636|isbn=0-415-93764-7 |author2=H. R. Brittain |display-authors=etal}}</ref>
* A counterpart to ''[[Laughing Cavalier]]'' after Frans Hals (1923) once the subject of a scandal in The Hague in 1923, its present whereabouts is unknown.
*''The Happy Smoker'' after Frans Hals (1923) hangs in the [[Groninger Museum]] in the Netherlands
*''Man and Woman at a Spinet'' 1932 (perhaps without misleading intentions,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Vermeer|last=Bianconi|first=Piero|page=102|publisher=Gemeinshaftsausgabe Kunstkreis Luzern Buchclub Ex Libris Zürich|year=1967}}</ref> sold to Amsterdam banker, Dr. [[Fritz Mannheimer]])
*''Lady reading a letter''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Brieflezende vrouw |url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/RIJK01:SK-A-4240 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016081729/http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?%2Fnl%2Fitems%2FRIJK01%3ASK-A-4240 |archive-date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2013-12-29 |website=Het Geheugen van Nederland |language=nl}}</ref> 1935–1936 (unsold, on display at the Rijksmuseum)
*''Lady playing a lute and looking out the window''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cisterspelende vrouw |url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/RIJK01:SK-A-4241 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016081729/http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?%2Fnl%2Fitems%2FRIJK01%3ASK-A-4241 |archive-date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2013-12-29 |website=Het Geheugen van Nederland |language=nl}}</ref> 1935–1936 (unsold, on display at the Rijksmuseum)
*''Portrait of a Man''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Portret van een man |url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/RIJK01:SK-A-4243 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016081729/http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?%2Fnl%2Fitems%2FRIJK01%3ASK-A-4243 |archive-date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2013-12-29 |website=Het Geheugen van Nederland |language=nl}}</ref> 1935–1936 in the style of Gerard ter Borch (unsold, on display at the Rijksmuseum)
*''Woman Drinking'' after Frans Hals (version of [[Malle Babbe]])<ref>{{Cite web |title=Malle Babbe |url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/RIJK01:SK-A-4242 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016081729/http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?%2Fnl%2Fitems%2FRIJK01%3ASK-A-4242 |archive-date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2021-11-05 |work=Het Geheugen van Nederland |language=nl}}</ref> 1935–1936 (unsold, on display at the Rijksmuseum.)
*''The Supper at Emmaus'', 1936–1937 (sold to the Boymans for 520,000–550,000 guldens, about US$300,000 or US$4 Million today)
*''Interior with Drinkers'' 1937–1938 (sold to D G. van Beuningen for 219,000–220,000 guldens about US$120,000 or US$1.6 million today)
*''The Last Supper I'', 1938–1939
*''Interior with Cardplayers'' 1938–1939 (sold to W. van der Vorm for 219,000–220,000 guldens US$120,000 or US$1.6 million today)
*''The Head of Christ'', 1940–1941 (sold to D G. van Beuningen for 400,000–475,000 guldens about US$225,000 or US$3.25 million today)
*''The Last Supper II'', 1940–1942 (sold to D G. van Beuningen for 1,600,000 guldens about US$600,000 or US$7 million today)
*''The Blessing of Jacob'' 1941–1942 (sold to W. van der Vorm for 1,270,000 guldens about US$500,000 or US$5.75 million today)
*''Christ with the Adulteress'' 1941–1942 (sold to Hermann Göring for 1,650,000 guldens about US$624,000 or US$6.75 million today, now in the public collection of [[Museum de Fundatie]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Looking for Vermeer |url=https://www.museumdefundatie.nl/en/looking-for-vermeer/ |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=[[Museum de Fundatie]] |language=en}}</ref>)
*''The Washing of the Feet''<ref>{{Cite web |title=De voetwassing |url=http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?/nl/items/RIJK01:SK-A-4239 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016081729/http://www.geheugenvannederland.nl/?%2Fnl%2Fitems%2FRIJK01%3ASK-A-4239 |archive-date=2015-10-16 |access-date=2013-12-29 |website=Het Geheugen van Nederland |language=nl}}</ref> 1941–1943 (sold to the Netherlands state for 1,250,000–1,300,000 guldens about US$500,000 or US$5.3 million today, on display at the Rijksmuseum)
*''Jesus among the Doctors'' September 1945 (painted during trial under Court's control, and sold at auction for 3,000 guldens, about US$800 or US$7,000 today)
*''The Procuress'' given to the Courtauld Institute as a fake in 1960 and confirmed as such by chemical analysis in 2011.

Posthumously, Van Meegeren's forgeries have been shown in exhibitions around the world, including exhibitions in Amsterdam (1952), [[Basel]] (1953), [[Zürich]] (1953), [[Haarlem]] in the [[Kunsthandel de Boer]] (1958), [[London]] (1961), Rotterdam (1971), [[Minneapolis]] (1973), [[Essen]] (1976–1977), Berlin (1977), {{Interlanguage link|Slot Zeist|nl}} (1985), New York (1987), [[Berkeley, CA]] (1990), [[Munich]] (1991), Rotterdam (1996), The Hague (1996) and more recently at the Haagse Kunstkring, The Hague (2004) and [[Stockholm]] (2004), and have thus been made broadly accessible to the public.<ref>Mondadori, Arte Arnaldo (1991). ''"Genuinely wrong"'' (Villa Stuck, München). Fondation Cartier.</ref><ref>Schmidt, Georg (ed.) (1953). ''"Wrong or genuine?"'' (Basel, Zürich). Basel Art Museum.</ref><ref>Van Wijnen, H. (1996). ''"Exhibition catalog Rotterdam"''. Han van Meegeren. (With 30 black-and-white and 16 colour pictures.) The Hague. Language: Dutch.</ref>

===Potential forgeries===
It is possible that other fakes hang in art collections all over the world.  Jacques van Meegeren suggested that his father had created a number of other forgeries, during interviews with journalists<ref>{{harvnb|Schueller|1953|pp=46–48}}</ref> regarding discussions with his father.<ref name="Kreuger2004">{{Cite book |last=Kreuger |first=Frederik H. |title=Han van Meegeren, Meestervervalser |year=2004 |page=173 |language=nl |trans-title=The life and work of Han Van Meegeren, master-forger |oclc=71736835}}</ref> Some of these possible forgeries include:
[[File:Smiling girl (Fake Vermeer).jpg|thumb|''Smiling Girl'' may have been painted by Van Meegeren]]
*''Boy with a Little Dog'' and ''The Rommelpotspeler'' after Frans Hals. The Frans Hals catalogue by Frans L. M. Dony<ref name= Dony>Frans L.M. Dony (1976) Frans Hals (1974, Rizolli Editore Milano) (1976, Lekturama Rotterdam). Note: This book is considered by the [[Frans Hals Museum]] in [[Haarlem]] to be the best survey of the works of Frans Hals.</ref> mentions four paintings by this name attributed to Frans Hals or the "school of Frans Hals". 
*A counterpart to Vermeer's ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]''. A painting called ''[[Smiling Girl]]'' hangs in the [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington, D.C. (bequest [[Andrew W. Mellon]]) which has been recognized by the museum as a fake. It was attributed to [[Theo van Wijngaarden]], friend and partner of Van Meegeren, but may have been painted by Van Meegeren.<ref name="nyorker">{{cite web|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/10/27/dutch-master|title=Dutch Masters|date=20 October 2008|accessdate=18 January 2025|publisher=New Yorker|author=Peter Schjeldahl}}</ref>
*''The Lacemaker'', c. 1925, owned by the [[National Gallery of Art]] in Washington, D.C. (bequest [[Andrew W. Mellon]]) which has been recognized by the museum as a fake. It may have been painted by Van Meegeren or Theo van Wijngaarde.<ref name="nyorker" />
*''Lady with a Blue Hat'' after Vermeer which was sold to Baron [[Heinrich, Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon|Heinrich Thyssen]] in 1930. Its present whereabouts are unknown. It is often referred to as the “Greta Garbo” Vermeer.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=McKee and Walk |title=John Ringling and the Greta Garbo Vermeer |year=2024}}</ref>[[File:The_Lacemaker_(Fake_Vermeer).jpg|thumb|''The Lacemaker'' may have been painted by Van Meegeren]]

==Original artwork==
Van Meegeren was a prolific artist and produced thousands of original paintings in a number of diverse styles. This wide range in painting and drawing styles often irritated art critics. Some of his typical works are classical still lifes in convincing 17th-century manner, Impressionistic paintings of people frolicking on lakes or beaches, jocular drawings where the subject is drawn with rather odd features, and Surrealistic paintings with combined fore- and backgrounds. Van Meegeren's portraits, however, are probably his finest works.<ref name="Kreuger22" /><ref name=Kreuger2004/>

Among his original works is his famous ''Deer'', pictured above. Other works include his prize-winning ''St. Laurens Cathedral'';<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20650%20hoog%20Kerk.jpg |title=St. Laurens Cathedral image |access-date=2012-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311061346/http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20650%20hoog%20Kerk.jpg |archive-date=2012-03-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> a ''Portrait of the actress Jo Oerlemans''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20650%20hoog%20Jo.jpg |title=Portrait of the actress Jo Oerlemans image |access-date=2012-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311084035/http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20650%20hoog%20Jo.jpg |archive-date=2012-03-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (his second wife); his ''Night Club'';<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20700%20hoog%20Nachtlokaal.jpg |title=Night Club |access-date=2012-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120311084010/http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20700%20hoog%20Nachtlokaal.jpg |archive-date=2012-03-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> from the Roaring Twenties; the cheerful watercolor ''A Summer Day on the Beach''<ref>{{Cite web |title=maak 992 breed Strand |url=http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20992%20breed%20Strand.jpg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327111429/http://www.meegeren.net/images/uploads/maak%20992%20breed%20Strand.jpg |archive-date=2009-03-27}}</ref> and many others.

===The forger, forged===
{{main article|Jacques van Meegeren#Fake van Meegerens}}
Van Meegeren's own work rose in price after he had become known as a forger, and it consequently became worthwhile to fake his paintings, as well. Existing paintings obtained a signature "H. van Meegeren", or new pictures were made in his style and falsely signed. When van Meegeren saw a fake like that, he ironically remarked that he would have adopted them if they had been good enough, but regrettably he had not yet seen one.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Later on, however, his son [[Jacques van Meegeren]] started to fake his father's work. He made paintings in his father's style – although of much lower quality – and was able to place a perfect signature on these imitations. Many fakes – both by Jacques and by others – are still on the market.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

==In media==
In 1961, [[Anton Walbrook]] played Han van Meegeren (renamed Han van Maasdijk) in the West End play ''Masterpiece''. Written by Larry Ward and Gordon Russell, it had a short run at London's [[Peacock Theatre|Royalty Theatre]] from 26 January to 25 February.<ref>R B Marriott, ‘The artist who was masterly painting another man’s work’, ''The Stage'', 2 February 1961, p. 17.</ref>

Han van Meegeren was played by [[Guy Pearce]] in the movie ''[[The Last Vermeer]]'', which tells the story of the investigation into his sale of the painting "Jesus and the Adulteress" to Nazi officer Hermann Göring.''<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Fleming|first1=Mike Jr.|title=Guy Pearce Stars & Imperative's Dan Friedkin Directs 'Lyrebird', About Art Forger Whose Paintings Duped Nazis|url=https://deadline.com/2018/04/guy-pearce-lyrebird-han-van-meegeren-art-forger-nazis-dan-friedkin-ridley-scott-1202376580/|work=Deadline|accessdate=2018-04-25|date=2018-04-25}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Kenny |first=Glenn |date=2020-11-19 |title='The Last Vermeer' Review: A Lost Masterpiece Is Only the Beginning |language=en-US |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/movies/the-last-vermeer-review.html |access-date=2023-06-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> ''The movie was based on the book ''The Man Who Made Vermeers, Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han Van Meegeren'', by Jonathan Lopez.''<ref>{{harvnb|Lopez|2008}}</ref>''

== Footnotes ==
{{Notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
*{{Cite book |last1=Kreuger |first1=Frederik H. |title=A New Vermeer, Life and Work of Han van Meegeren |publisher=Quantes |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-5959-047-2 |location=Rijswijk, Holland |language=en}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Schueller |first1=Sepp |publisher=Brüder Auer, Bonn |year=1953 |title=Falsch oder echt? Der Fall Van Meegeren |language=de |trans-title=Fake or genuine? The case of Van Meegeren}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Godley |first1=John |year=1951 |title=Van Meegeren: Master Art Forger |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |lccn=68-17337 |oclc=31674916|url=https://archive.org/details/masterartforgert027486mbp}}
*{{Cite book |last=Bailey|first=Anthony |title=Vermeer: A View of Delft |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5olNi3V4YmUC |publisher=Owl Books |location=Clearwater, Fla |year= 2002|isbn=0-8050-6930-5}}
*{{Cite book |last=Doudart de la Grée |first=Marie-Louise |title=Geen Standbeeld voor Van Meegeren |publisher=Nederlandsche Keurboekerij |year=1966 |location=Amsterdam |language=nl |trans-title=No Statue for Van Meegeren |oclc=64308055}}
* {{Cite book |last=Keats |first=Jonathon |title=Forged: Why Fakes are the Great Art of Our Age |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2013 |isbn=9780199279456 |language=en-GB}}
*{{Cite book |last1=Lopez |first1=Jonathan |title=The Man who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han Van Meegeren |date=2008 |publisher=Harcourt |isbn=978-0-15-101341-8 |language=en-US |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KdDqAAAAMAAJ&q=A+newspaper+poll+conducted+at+the+beginning+of+1947+found+that+Van+Meegeren+was+the+second+most+popular+man+in+the+realm+:+he+came+in+just+behind+the+newly |access-date=2021-03-27 |via=[[Google Books]]}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Wynne |first1=Frank |year=2006a |title=I Was Vermeer: The Rise and Fall of the Twentieth Century's Greatest Forger |location=New York |language=en |oclc=68221063 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] |isbn=978-1-58234-593-2}}
* {{Cite book |author=Dolnick |title=The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |location=New York |language=en |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-06-082541-6 |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Dolnick}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|30em}}
'''List of Works'''
* [[Frederik H. Kreuger|Kreuger, Frederik H.]] (2013). ''Han van Meegeren Revisited. His Art & a List of his Works'', Fourth enlarged edition. Quantes Publishers Rijswijk, Delft 2013. {{ISBN|978 90 5959 065 6}}

'''Source'''
* Arend Hendrik Huussen Jr.: ''Henricus (Han) Antonius van Meegeren (1889 - 1945). Documenten betreffende zijn leven en strafproces''. (Cahiers uit het noorden 20), Zoetermeer, Huussen 2009.
* Arend Hendrik Huussen Jr.: ''Henricus (Han) Antonius van Meegeren (1889 - 1945). Documenten, supplement''. (Cahiers uit het noorden 21), Zoetermeer, Huussen 2010.

'''Han van Meegeren biographies'''
*Baesjou, Jan (1956). ''The Vermeer forgeries: The story of Han van Meegeren''. G. Bles. A biography/novel based on the author's conversations with van Meegeren's second wife. {{OCLC|3949129}}
*Brandhof, Marijke van den (1979): ''Een vroege Vermeer uit 1937: Achtergronden van leven en werken van de schilder/vervalser Han van Meegeren''. Utrecht: Spectrum, 1979. The only scholarly biography of van Meegeren. An English-language summary is offered by Werness (1983).
*[[John Godley, 3rd Baron Kilbracken|Godley, John Raymond Lord Kilbracken]] (1967). ''Van Meegeren: A case history''. London: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd. 1967, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. The standard English-language account, based on the author's literature research and conversations with van Meegeren's son and daughter.{{oclc|173258}}
*{{Cite book |author= Guarnieri, Luigi |title=La Doppia vita di Vermeer |publisher=Arnoldo Mondadori S.p.A., Milan |year=2004 }} This "novel" ("romanzo") itself is a sort of forgery. As Henry Keazor in the German newspaper ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' could show in 2005 (see: "Gefälscht!", April 12, 2005, No. 84, Forum Humanwissenschaften, p.&nbsp;16), Guarnieri has copied large parts of his book (sometime word by word) from Lord Kilbracken's 1967-biography. Since Guarnieri's brother Giovanni works as a translator, [see: {{Cite web |url=http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/thread-view.asp?threadid=281&start=1 |title=What are translators reading? |publisher=Translatorscafe.com |access-date=2012-05-05 |archive-date=2016-01-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102034717/http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/thread-view.asp?threadid=281&start=1 |url-status=live }}] Luigi easily could have had the English text translated into the Italian. Keazor shows that Guarnieri tried to cover his tracks by not referring to the book by Kilbracken – he only mentions (p.&nbsp;212) his earlier and different book (''Master Art Forger. The story of Han van Meegeren'', New York 1951) which, however, was published under Kilbracken's civil name "John Godley".
*Isheden, Per-Inge (2007). van Meegeren—konstförfalskarnas konung [van Meegeren—king of art forgeries]. ''Kvällsstunden: Hemmets och familjens veckotidning 69''(38), 3, 23. (In Swedish, with side-by-side examples of originals and van Meegeren's forgeries.)
*[[Frederik H. Kreuger|Kreuger, Frederik H.]] (2007). ''A New Vermeer: Life and Work of Han van Meegeren''. Quantes Publishers, Rijswijk 2007. {{ISBN|978-90-5959-047-2}}
*Moiseiwitsch, Maurice (1964). ''The Van Meegeren mystery; a biographical study''. London: A. Barker. {{oclc|74000800}}
*{{Cite book |author= Werness, Hope B.|title="Han van Meegeren fecit" in The forger's art: forgery and the philosophy of art |publisher=University of California Press |editor= Denis Dutton|location=Berkeley |year=1983 |isbn=0-520-05619-1 |editor-link= Denis Dutton}}

'''Novels about or inspired by Han van Meegeren'''
*{{Cite book| last = Gaddis | first = William | author-link = William Gaddis |others=William H. Gass (Introduction) | title = [[The Recognitions]]| publisher = Penguin Classics (1993-reprint) | year = 1955 | isbn = 3-442-44878-6}}
*{{Cite book|last = Kreuger | first = Frederik H. | author-link = Frederik H. Kreuger | title = The Deception. Novel and His Real Life | publisher = Quantes Uitgeverij | year = 2005 | location = The Netherlands | isbn = 90-5959-031-7}}

'''Films about or inspired by Han van Meegeren'''
*[[Peter Greenaway]]'s ''[[A Zed & Two Noughts]]'' (1985). In this film [[Gerard Thoolen]] plays "Van Meegeren", a [[surgeon]] and painter modeled after Han van Meegeren.
*Jan Botermans and Gustav Maguel (1951). ''Van Meegeren's false Vermeers'' [Film]. (See Sepp Schueller, p.&nbsp;57.)
*{{Cite video| people = [[Fritz Kirchhoff]] | title = Verführte Hände (literally: Enticed hands) | medium = Film | location = Germany |date = 1949 }}
*{{Cite video| people = Antonín Moskalyk (director) | title = Dobrodružství kriminalistiky: Paprsek 16/26 (literally: Adventures of Criminology: The Ray) | medium = TV series | publisher = Czechoslovakian television, Sudwestfunk Baden-Baden, Westdeutsches Werbefernsehen | location = Czechoslovakia, West Germany | date = 1990}}
*[[Dan Friedkin]]'s ''[[The Last Vermeer]]'' (2019), in which Han van Meegeren is played by [[Guy Pearce]].

'''Plays inspired by Han van Meegeren'''
*Bruce J. Robinson (2007). ''Another Vermeer'' [Play]. Produced by the Abingdon Theatre Company of New York City
*[[Ian Walker (playwright)]]. ''Ghost in the Light'' [Play]. Produced by Second Wind Productions of San Francisco.
* David Jon Wiener. "The Master Forger" [Play]. Produced by Octad-One Productions Lakeside, CA and The Tabard Theatre London, England.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons|Han van Meegeren}}
*[http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/zoeken/search.jsp?query=Han+van+Meegeren&lang=en&scope=collection Pictures in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam]{{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.mystudios.com/gallery/han/han6.jpg Photo from Van Meegeren's trial] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191513/http://www.mystudios.com/gallery/han/han6.jpg |date=3 March 2016 }}
*[http://www.meegeren.net/ The Meegeren website] with many examples of Van Meegeren's own paintings, as well as updated information regarding his personal and professional life, compiled by Frederik H. Kreuger.

{{Authority control (arts)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meegeren, Han Van}}
[[Category:1889 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:Art forgers]]
[[Category:Delft University of Technology alumni]]
[[Category:Dutch fraudsters]]
[[Category:Johannes Vermeer]]
[[Category:People acquitted of treason]]
[[Category:People convicted of fraud]]
[[Category:People from Deventer]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch criminals]]
[[Category:Dutch male painters]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]