Page 16 - THE SLOUGHI REVIEW SPECIAL ISSUE 4

T H E S L O U G H I R E V I E W 1 6

Herman Göring, Hitler's second-in-command, walked into the trap with his eyes wide open
and bought a seventeenth-century Vermeer for 1.65 million guilders. A week after liberation,
master forger Han van Meegeren confessed that the painting was by his hand and not by
Vermeer.

Thanks to the forgeries, Van Meegeren owned more than 50 canal houses in Amsterdam
during the war and led a life of luxury.

The police investigated the art looted or bought by the Germans. Through their excellent
records, this Vermeer -‘Christ and the Adulteress’- turned out to have been traded by Van
Meegeren.

And that is why the investigators came to talk: “selling art treasures to the Germans, isn't that
collaboration? Explain, Mr Van Meegeren?”

Van Meegeren faced a serious dilemma. Should he admit to having traded an art treasure? Or
should he reveal his biggest secret: the Vermeer is not a Vermeer, but a Van Meegeren.

He decides on the latter. Serving two years for forgery is a lot more appealing than ten years
for collaboration. The detectives did not believe him. How can that be, the paintings pass the
alcohol test, where new paint normally dissolves when you wipe the canvas with the liquid. So
it must be a really old painting, according to the experts.

Van Meegeren is instructed to go
ahead and prove it! So Van Meegeren
is commissioned by the police to
make Vermeer's ‘Christ and the
Scribes’.

They set up a studio for Van
Meegeren in the attic, using materials
from his house. And then he sets to

work. In the end, the investigators are
shocked, the painting looks so real....

Van Meegeren at work in the police station.