In 1946, the second world war had just ended, a Dutch artist and art collector stood trial
in Amsterdam.
His charge?
Collaboration, for selling cherished cultural heritage to the Nazis.
He earned millions.
His sales came to light after a Vermeer painting was found in Hermann Görings art collection,
which was traced back to him, Han van Meegeren.
He was facing years in prison and even the death penalty.
The trial took an unexpected turn when it became evident he hadn’t sold a real Vermeer
to the Nazis, but an extremely detailed forgery.
The court was sceptical at first but it soon became clear he hadn’t just swindled Göring,
but the entire art world, for decades.
-intro-
Personal life and Creativity
Van Meegeren’s story isn’t a usual story.
Born in 1889 and showing both skill and passion for painting at an early age, Han van Meegeren
was expected to become at least a decent artist.
Well, aside from his father, who thought artists were degenerates.
After Han finished high school he was forced to take up an engineering study in Delft by
his father.
Han himself would rather go to the art academy, but this was no option for his father While
their bond worsened he tried to make the best of it at university.
Though not a model student, his artistic talents once again were prevalent when he won a first
prize drawing the interior of the St Laurenskerk in Rotterdam.
Not just that, but he designed the clubhouse for his student rowing club.
And eventually, he decided to quit his studies altogether and follow his passion: painting.
He developed himself as a good artist the general criticism regarding his paintings
was that, while technically it was great, the style was too traditional and wasn’t
that original.
His work did sell and he wasn’t condemned to poverty, but nevertheless, Han did not
receive the recognition he felt he deserved.
He married Anna de Voogt in 1912 and the couple had a son and daughter.
This was around the time his career as an artist took off, having many expositions and
selling multiple paintings.
Eventually, the couple divorced and in 1928 Han married Jo Oerlemans.
By the time they married, Han had been forging paintings for some time already.
Forgeries and Techniques
During his trial in 1946 Han would state he wanted to test internationally renowned art
experts.
After the criticism his work received he thought of them as snobby.
It was during that time he hatched a plan to forge paintings of great masters - or,
in his words, to “force the art world to its knees”.
During the 1920s Han shared a workshop with the art-restorator Theo van Wijngaarden.
Theo would be crucial for Han’s initial forgeries, as he would become the middle-man
in selling the paintings to Dutch, British and American art collectors.
Han’s first forgeries were two paintings in the style of Frans Hals, one of the most
well-known Dutch Golden Age painters.
One of the paintings, the laughing cavalier, wasn’t sold as there were doubts about its
authenticity but the other painting hung in the Groninger Museum until Han was put on
trial and confessed to his forgeries in 1946.
There certainly was a method Han developed and fine-tuned in order to fool the keenest
experts.
After doubts arose about one of his paintings he retreated to France where he experimented
with old canvas from the 17th century, tampered with paint to give it a grainy texture and
added bakelite, a form of synthetic plastic, in order for the paint not to dissolve when
tested with alcohol, as was commonplace during that time.
Aside from chemical procedures he even created his own paintbrushes with badger hair - it
was known Vermeer used this.
The blue lapis lazuli, a gem, was bought from London in order to reproduce Vermeer’s enchanting
blue paint.
After he was finished he baked the paintings in an oven at 120 degrees to harden the paint,
then roll the painting for the cracks in the paint to emerge.
These cracks were subtly filled with Indian Ink and dirt.
Now, obviously, it took Han several years to master these difficult and time-consuming
procedures.
But once he managed to master the forgery procedures - after all, he could already paint
at an excellent level - he used his contacts to enter the art market.
Magnum Opus
Han didn’t sell his first two forgeries, Lady Reading Music and Lady Playing Music,
modelled on Vermeer.
They now hang in the Dutch Rijksmuseum.
But his third forgery, the supper at Emmaus, was destined for something larger.
Via his contacts, it ended up at Abraham Bredius, a renowned Vermeer expert.
That was not before it was offered to an American expert that called the painting “a rotten
fake”.
Nevertheless, Bredius stated it was real, praised the painting and recommended it to
the owner of Museum Boymans in Rotterdam.
540.000 guilders was collected and the painting was sold to the museum.
It was Han’s first success and due to it, many more would follow.
He sold two more “Vermeers” to the Boymans and another one to a wealthy harbour baron.
Forging paintings from multiple artists such as Frans Hals, Gerard ter Borch and Pieter
de Hooch, Han was able to amass a small fortune and live his life in incredible luxury, exposing
in both the Netherlands and Germany.
This all happened during the 1930s.
As we know, at the end of that decade, due to another artist that didn’t feel the world
had properly recognized his talent, the second world war would break out.
And while horrible for many, it became a financial blessing for Han.
Swindling Göring
Han moved back to the Netherlands from France a year before the low countries were invaded.
After the German invasion, he managed to sell much of his works and had expositions of his
own work in Germany.
It’s a grey area whether Han had actual sympathies to Hitler but some evidence certainly
does point towards that.
At any rate - he became rich.
Filthy rich.
Whilst Europe was suffering under the terror of war he lived in “het Roode Huys”, a
beautiful Amsterdam canal house and a luxurious manor outside of town.
Dutch art collectors bought many of his forgeries because they didn’t want the Germans to
get their hands on it.
Now, the painting that would eventually lead to his downfall was a Vermeer forgery, ‘Christ
with the Adulteress’.
The painting was sold to a German banker for a sizeable sum.
This German banker ended up selling it to Hermann Göring.
Or, well, traded it for 137 other paintings.
These paintings combined would amount to around 1.6 million guilders, an absolute record.
It became one of the most expensive paintings ever.
As we know, the war ended badly for Germany - what is lesser known is that Nazis, and
Göring himself, hid their stolen art collections all over Europe.
Göring hid his collection in a salt mine in Austria.
After the war the Allied powers discovered the paintings and thanks to the efficient
German bureaucracy, I mean, that’s one thing they did get right, Han van Meegeren was quickly
traced.
When authorities came by to investigate, he could not explain the origins of the painting
and on the 26th of May he was arrested in Amsterdam.
He was charged with collaboration with the enemy.
If convicted of this crime, it meant decades in prison, if not the death penalty.
The Dutch authorities thought he stole the painting from families that had been sent
to concentration camps.
At least, he didn’t get the painting in a fair and square manner.
Two long weeks of pondering on his situation followed for Han.
If he didn’t confess he forged the paintings, a terrible fate would await him.
If he did confess, it would not just mean they knew this painting was fake, but many
more of his paintings hanging all over museums in the Netherlands and Germany.
Trial
After two weeks of imprisonment, Han decided to confess.
He stated he forged Göring’s painting, hoping to reduce his sentence.
At first, he wasn’t believed though.
Dutch authorities thought it was rather convenient to just state he painted the painting himself
to receive a lower sentence.
And as such he was made to forge a new painting.
And, well, he did.
With judicial civil servants watching him, Han forged another painting, the Christ in
the Temple, meticulously following each step in his systemic process he had mastered over
the years.
When court realized he did, in fact, forge the painting it became an incredible headline
- the man who swindled Göring - newspapers all over the world ran articles about him.
When asked why he did it he stated he wanted to create a painting that was acknowledged
as ‘good art’.
He despised art critics and their snobbiness.
Perhaps it was a revolt against his father as well.
Eventually, Han was sentenced to 1 year in jail.
He claimed his ex-wife by now, Jo, didn’t know about the forgings.
She was able to comfortably outlive the rest of her life.
Han himself never served his prison sentence.
He fell ill and passed away in 1947, less than a year after his trial.
It is the tragic story about an, in my opinion, extremely talented artist.
The Supper at Emmaus hangs in the Boymans-van Beuning museum to this day, so if you’re
ever in Rotterdam make sure to check that out!
Thank you for watching this video and what is an interesting person’s life story you’d
like to know more about and perhaps see a video of?
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See you next time.