Look Again and Tell Me What You See

“Looking at a painting should be like looking through a lens. We should sense the mystery of the world—how much we ordinarily do not see.”

Johannes Vermeer (Delft, 1632-1675)

“The Man Who Made Vermeers” (2008)

Jonathan Lopez is the author of  The Man Who Made Vermeers (2008), a research work on Han van Meegeren and the illicit trade across Europe during the interwar period. The development of  this book took Lopez to the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain and the United States.

You will find more information on his work here. I also recommend you to read the interview with the author in Essential Vermeer.com.

Readers’ reviews:

• An Artist’s Journey. Blog by Laurel Neustadter.
• Benjamin’s Review. Goodreads.

Newspaper and magazine reviews:

• Los Angeles Times. Review by Christopher Knight.
• Chicago Tribune. Review by Wendy Smith.
• A’n'B VIBE. Review by Meghan Masterson.
• Contentions. Review by Terry Teachout.

Other reviews:

• Raincoast Books.

Audio files:

• ODEO
• ABC. Late Night Live.

Who was Han van Meegeren?

Han van Meegeren (1889 – 1947) was a Dutch painter and portraitist, considered one of the best art forgers of the last century. He is remembered by his faked Vermeers. Meegeren spent seven years on forging some of the world’s most famous artists including Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Boch and, of course, Johannes Vermeer.

Nowadays, we may check the authenticity of a picture by applying forensic and even digital techniques. But Meegeren was able to fool the experts of his time. Why?

1. Vermeer’s work was practically unknown to the general public at the beginning of the 20th century, so very few people knew how a Vermeer look like.
2. Most art galleries kept their collections in protective storage shortly before and during the Second World War. Thus, experts could not compare a genuine Vermeer painting with one of Meegeren’s.

At the same time, Han van Meegeren was extremely meticulous in his art forgeries. He studied the biographies of the Dutch masters from the Golden Age along with their trademark techniques and catalogues. Godley (1951) provides a detailed description of the forgery process:

“Van Meegeren bought authentic 17th century canvas to paint on, and mixed his own paints from raw materials (such as lapis lazuli, white lead, indigo, and cinnabar) using old formulas to ensure that they were authentic. In addition, he used badger hair paintbrushes, similar to those Vermeer was known to have used. He came up with a scheme of using phenolformaldehyde to cause the paints to harden after application, making the paintings appear as if they were 300 years old. After completing a painting, Van Meegeren would bake it at 100 °C (212.0 °F) to 120 °C (248.0 °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.”

These facts made the fraud more difficult to detect. By the time Meegeren was found, he owned out of the equivalent of several million of dollars!

Woman Reading Music

Woman Playing Music

The Girl in Antique Costume

Smiling Girl

The Lacemaker

Girl with the Blue Bow

More information on Han van Meegeren:

• The Meegeren Website
• Essential Vermeer.com
• The Art Forgeries of Han van Meegeren
• A Fraud’s Life.
• El hombre que estafó al Tercer Reich. “Historias con historia”, blog by Iñaki (in Spanish)

References:

• Wikipedia. Han van Meegeren
• Wikipedia. Art forgery.

Vermeer: A Scientific Artist

“I want to paint what I see around us,” De Hooch, a fellow painter, said one night by the hearth of our local tavern. “Everything in our homes—the centers of our humble lives.”

“But we do not see things as they are,” Johannes argued. “This stein … this chair, for example, are not what we think they are. Our eyes take in light that our brain makes into objects. Canvases should probe the essences of all experience—what is there that we miss.”

[...]

“Paintings should help us see more clearly and appreciate what is all around us. Each day, we walk by half-opened windows and doors, but rarely look in.”

Excerpt from Memories of Johannes Vermeer (Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek on Dec. 14, 1685)