The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century (P.S.)

Livro muito detalhado e completo sobre um dos maiores falsificadores de arte no século vinte, incluindo a venda de um um falso Vermeer para Hermann Wilhelm Göring, o General aviador nazista, o nº 2 na escala de poder do Terceiro Reich. Excelente.

A book I was very interested in. If you love art,theExcellent read.

I was not familiar with the story of the Dutch forger, Han Van Meegeren who made millions before and during WWII from his forged paintings, primarily Vermeers. These were not copies of existing paintings, but creations of his own. His undoing after the war came as a result of a forgery he sold to Goering, which led to his being investigated as a collaborator. He decided it would be better to confess to his forgeries than to be tried as a collaborator. However, he had a hard time getting anyone to believe that he had produced paintings that had been hailed by important experts as real Vermeers. This is a terrific book, which is well-written and brings together many different strands. There is, of course, simply the story of Van Meegeren, which includes the very interesting technical aspects of how he was able to produce paintings that would pass scientific tests to determine if the works were in fact centuries old. The book describes at length the situation in Holland under the Nazis, as well as Goering's and Hitler's obsession with acquiring all of the great art in Europe, either purchasing it with confiscated money or confiscating the art itself. The scale of their plundering was astounding. At times, Goering's seems to have focused more on these acquisitions than on the conduct of the war, to the possible detriment of the Nazi war effort. Dolnick also goes into the psychology of the forger, as well as of the experts who were duped. Altogether, a wonderful book.Jon

The most fantastic book on the subject of art forgeries starting way back in history to the present date. You'll never look at art again in the same way.

Fascinating insight into the forger's craft using the life of one of the greatest forgers of the twentieth century to explain the how to as well as the why of this strange profession. It is intimately mixed in with the greatest crimes of the second world war. A good read.