Page "Han van Meegeren" Paragraph 15

Van Meegeren felt that his genius had been misjudged, and set out to prove to the art critics that he could not only copy the style of the Dutch masters in his paintings, but produce a work of art so magnificent that it would rival the works of master painters.

He moved with Jo to the South of France and began preparations for this ultimate forgery, which took him six years, from 1932 to 1937.

In a series of early exercises, he forged works by Frans Hals, Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch, and Johannes Vermeer.

Finally he chose to forge a painting by Vermeer as his masterpiece.

Vermeer had not been particularly well-known until the beginning of the twentieth century ; his works were both scarce — only about 35 had survived — and extremely valuable.