Creative success of the forger Henrikus van Meegeren

The famous artist Henrikus Antonius van Meegeren can truly be called a genius forger. The master became famous thanks to forged paintings depicting the works of Jan Vermeer and Peter de Hoch. Thanks to his own "classic masterpieces", he was able to earn 8 million guilders.

The artist was born in 1889, and in his childhood became interested in painting. Most of all, he was attracted to the Dutch artists of the XVII century. He studied at a technical University, trained as an architect, and during his studies for the first time received a gold medal for a watercolor work depicting the Church interior.

Meegeren was a realist, and don't think of new discoveries in the fine arts. Since he somehow needed to survive, the artist decided to fake his favorite artists. He did not sell his first works, but they convinced the forger that he could continue and hope for success. In particular, the painting "Christ in Emmaus" was sold for the equivalent of several million dollars today. It even hung for a while in one of the museums in Rotterdam.

In 1943, Hermann Goering purchased the painting "Christ and the people" from Megeren. A few years later, it was found by Americans who found out about the seller of the canvas. They wanted to put the artist in jail for selling national cultural property, and the forger had to reveal all the cards: he admitted that he was the author of this and other paintings. To test the truth of what was said, an investigative experiment was conducted, during which Megeren wrote his last work "Jesus among the scribes". In 1947, the artist was convicted of forgery of masterpieces of painting, and at the end of December of the same year, he died of a heart attack.