F for Fake

For some reason, I find the idea of art forgeries fascinating. I like to imagine forgers operating in some shadowy European underworld of decadent aristocrats and war profiteers, like something out of an Eric Ambler novel. So naturally I was pleased to see this recent New Yorker article on Han van Meegeren, one of the great modern forgers (his focus was the Dutch Old Masters).

The piece pairs well with this one on Eric Hebborn, the last great forger (that we know of). Hebborn is a particularly fascinating figure. He wrote a famous book on forgeries, and died a death straight out of an Ambler novel: he was found one morning in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood with his head beaten in (the murder remains unsolved).

What is interesting about both Hebborn and van Meegeren is that they partly justified their crimes as a kind of revenge on an art world that had no use for the Dutch and Renaissance styles that they loved so much. I suppose there are worse ways…

(Hat tip: Steve Sailer)