Book Title: The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han Van Meegeren

Author: Jonathan Lopez

Publisher: Harcourt Books

Year: August 11^th 2008

# of Pages: 340

ISBN: 978-0-15-101341-8

Reviewed By:  Meghan Masterson (Calgary Correspondent - Canada)

Jonathan Lopez’s book about a successful forger of many paintings, including some that were done in the style of the lauded 17^th century painter Vermeer, is fascinating and informative. Aside from telling the never-dull story of Han Van Meegeren, a man who made a fortune with his paintbrush and a talent for swindling, The Man Who Made Vermeers brings to life the world of art, including its dark underbelly. As this book demonstrates, forgeries were far more common than you might think during the 1920s and 1930s.

Lopez’s love of art is admirably shown throughout the book, and his descriptions of specific paintings are vivid enough that the reader feels that he or she has viewed the textured paint strokes in reality. His occasionally wry comments about the weaker aspects of some paintings, including a few of Van Meegeren’s, are also entertaining and, based on my untrained viewing of the helpful photographs throughout the book, right on the mark. Lopez’ compliments to other paintings are also well-deserved, again including some of Van Meegeren’s—though he painted mostly forgeries, he was undeniably skilled.

The Man Who Made Vermeers was clearly researched in great detail, as the large number of endnotes and bibliographical notes will attest. The facts are precise, conclusions well-drawn, and the complex network of the illicit sale of paintings is explained. This book is also important because it is dedicated to telling a truthful tale of Van Meegeren. As Lopez asserts, the artist, who was exposed as a forger after the Second World War, was a fraud in more ways than one; he persuasively portrayed himself as a wronged man, a struggling artist whose work was constantly and maliciously critiqued until the only way he felt he could perfect his technique and connect with the great artists he admired was to imitate their distinctive styles. Van Meegeren became a kind of heroic figure, one who fooled those experts who disparaged his work. He was also applauded for his role as a trickster after he sold one of his forgeries to Hermann Goering. That Van Meegeren appears to have been a Nazi sympathizer was largely ignored, and Lopez offers evidence to show that the forger did not gleefully dupe the Nazis; rather, he simply made his income from selling forged paintings wherever he could.

The book also unlocks the world of the German occupation of Holland during the Second World War, bringing to life the darkness of daily life under Nazi rule, where sympathizers made fortunes and the opponents lived with suspicion, fear, and oppression. I felt educated on a topic that I previously knew nothing about once I finished The Man Who Made Vermeers, and now can carry on an intelligent conversation about art and techniques to detect a forgery, as well as having a better understanding of how Nazi occupation affected Holland.