How did han van meegeren get caught

1. Biography of Han van Meegeren
2. Early Life and Career
3. Pursuing Perfection and Forgery
4. Success, Scandals, and Downfall
5. Final Years

Biography of Han van Meegeren

Han van Meegeren, a Dutch painter and portraitist, was one of the most famous forgers of the 20th century. Born in 1889 in the provincial town of Deventer, Netherlands, he was the third of five children in a modest teacher's family with strong Catholic traditions. Despite his parents' disagreement and dissatisfaction, Han decided to become an artist from childhood, spending hours in his teacher Bartus Korteling's workshop, studying the art of drawing.

Early Life and Career

Although Han's passion was painting, he was forced to pursue a career in architecture at Delft Technical College, yielding to his father's wishes. However, he continued studying painting at the School of Fine Arts, and it became an integral part of his life. In the early 20th century, he began painting his own works, which would never bring him fame with his own signature. Han van Meegeren found a different kind of fame in his talent. Despite his parents' disagreement and dissatisfaction, Han decided to become an artist from childhood, spending hours in his teacher Bartus Korteling's workshop, studying the art of drawing. The teacher and student often talked about painting and art in general. When the time came to choose a specialization, Han's choice was undoubtedly painting.

In his later college years, Han found himself married with a young wife and a small child, struggling to provide a decent living for his family. His young wife, Anna de Voocht, endured poverty while Han continually tried to make something of himself. He sold his first paintings, but money was still scarce. However, Meegeren persisted in his pursuit of painting and began creating his own works. Soon, luck came his way with a victory in a local student painting competition, bringing the young artist some recognition and fame within the city of Delft.

Pursuing Perfection and Forgery

Striving for perfection, Han enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and received his academic degree in art in 1914. His skills as a painter continued to improve, and in 1916, he held his first exhibition. In addition to painting, he discovered a talent for restoring old paintings, which proved to be a lucrative business. Han delved into the intricacies of not only professional mastery but also the art trade itself. He realized that even esteemed art critics and experts couldn't always distinguish between authentic and forged artworks.

Han van Meegeren chose the painter Johannes Vermeer, whose works had not been fully explored and had a biography full of "white spots," to exploit this niche in the art world. Instead of simply copying existing works by Vermeer and passing them off as originals, Meegeren went further. He stripped an old canvas of its original painting, preserving all the cracks and characteristics of the underlying layer, and painted a new piece on top, presenting it as a newly discovered, unknown direction in Vermeer's work. Even the most experienced art connoisseurs were deceived by the aged canvas, unaware that Meegeren had set up a chemical laboratory in his studio and developed a paint composition that could withstand scrutiny. After two hours of drying in a special oven, the paint couldn't be dissolved by any solvent. Thus, a new biblical style emerged in van Meegeren's creations.

One of his forged paintings, titled "Christ in Emmaus," became a sensational discovery and was hailed as one of Vermeer's finest works. The painting was exhibited in a museum as one of the 450 masterpieces of Dutch painting.

Success, Scandals, and Downfall

In 1935, van Meegeren painted a series of forgeries, including works by Frans Hals, Terborch, and several more Vermeers. Success and wealth followed. He divorced his first wife, remarried, and gained notoriety for his scandalous lifestyle, which included relationships with models and a dependence on morphine.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, van Meegeren created five more Vermeer forgeries, one of which, "Christ with the Woman Taken in Adultery," ended up in the private collection of Nazi Hermann Göring.

Between 1939 and 1943, van Meegeren produced a total of thirteen forgeries. However, his fortunes took a turn for the worse in the mid-1940s when he was accused of collaborating with the Nazis and arrested for looting the national art treasury. Under pressure, he made a sensational confession, revealing himself as the creator of all the forged paintings. After undergoing expert examinations and a police experiment, during which he had to demonstrate his artistic abilities, he was sentenced to one year in prison. His trial and scandalous reputation became the most talked-about event in the country.

Final Years

Han van Meegeren did not live to complete his sentence. In November 1947, he signed a plea for clemency addressed to the Queen, but he never received a royal decision. Before serving his prison term, he was admitted to a clinic. On December 30, 1947, the artist died from a heart attack.

Through his forgeries, Han van Meegeren earned approximately 25-30 million dollars in today's currency. Today, he is considered one of the most skilled forgers in the history of painting.