The forger's spell : a true story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the greatest art hoax of the twentieth century

9780060825416

First edition

xii, 349 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Includes bibliographical references and index

OCCUPIED HOLLAND. A knock on the door
Looted art
The outbreak of war
Quasimodo
The end of forgery?
Forgery 101
The war against the Jews
The forger's challenge
Bargaining with vultures
Van Meegeren's tears
HERMANN GOERING AND JOHANNES VERMEER. Adolf Hitler
Chasing Vermeer
Goering's art collection
Insights from a forger
The amiable psychopath
Goering's prize
Vermeer, superstar
A ghost's fingerprints
THE SELLING OF CHRIST AT EMMAUS. Two forged Vermeers
The expert's eye
A forger's lesson
Bredius
"Without any doubt!"
The uncanny valley
Betting the farm
Lady and Gentleman at the Harpsichord
Dick Hannema
The choice
The Caravaggio connection
In the forger's studio
Underground tremors
The summer of 1937
The lamb at the bank
"Every inch a Vermeer"
Two weeks and counting
Too late!
The last hurdle
The unveiling
ANATOMY OF A HOAX. Scandal in the archives
All in the timing
Believing is seeing
The men who knew too much
Blue Monday
He who hesitates
The great changeover
THE CHASE. The secret in the salt mine
The dentist's tale
Goering on the run
The nest egg
Trapped!
"I painted it myself!"
Command performance
The evidence piles up
The trial
The players make their exits

2007036578

160688