ADVERTISEMENT | PUT YOUR AD HERE

Laughing Cavalier/Hals forged by van Meegeren Woman Drinking/Hals forged by van Meegeren

With his artistic career fading van Meegeren turned to forgery along with his friend Theo van Wijngaarden. Together they teamed up to create a number of forgeries. Han was a gifted copyist and Theo stumbled upon a way to mix gum in the paint to soften it when the alcohol test was used to test a painting. They cooked up a painting by Hals, Laughing Cavalier. Van Meegeren then picked out de Groot to authenticate the painting because he had painted the forgery in a way that would appeal to him. They had a third party present the painting and de Groot pronounced it to be a fine Hals. They then knocked off a few more forgeries and the money was rolling in. The Laughing Cavalier was just about to be sold at auction for the second time when Dr. Bredius saw it and condemned the painting. He pointed out all the stylistic errors. But de Groot stuck by his opinions. A committee of scholars was gathered to study the painting and they all agreed it was a fake. Poor de Groot quietly bought back the painting and the reasons never became public knowledge. Van Meegeren split ways with his cohort and vowed to never be caught again. No more stupid mistakes with gums and paint.

METHODS 2

METHODS 3