As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of Johannes Vermeer and the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him centuries later. The con man's mark was Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art.
It was an almost perfect crime. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger's success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist. His true genius lay in psychological manipulation, and he came within inches of fooling both the Nazis and the world. Instead, he landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life.
ARTnews called Dolnick's previous book, the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist, "the best book ever written on art crime." In The Forger's Spell, the stage is bigger, the stakes are higher, and the villains are blacker.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Short course in psychology, art and forgery Not having read Edward Dolnick's previous book, "The Rescue Artist", I did not come to read "The Forger's Spell" with primed expectations. Mr. Dolnick succeeds in what many writers on this subject fail to do by showing and not telling the finer points of his subject. Far from being pedantic, the author's storyteller's style draws the reader into the world of art connaisseurship,forgers and dupes with ease. The only pan is the author's light treatment of Goerring, Hitler and their Nazi band of thieves. The... more info
the forger's spell The Forger's Spell is a delightful romp through and around the Han Van Meeregen phenomenon, even if some of the chapters are repetitious. I especially enjoyed the description of the work that went into developing materials to mislead so-called experts and high points of the 1947 trial. It was the best book I have read in this genre since a book I read in the 1980's explaining how forgers build 18th century antique furniture from wood salvaged from old houses on the east coast. For anyone who has had to... more info
Very readable, hard to put down! This was a lot of fun and very hard to put down, even though -- Lord! -- so many books and articles have been written about Van Meegeren already! My only quibble was that it dragged a bit in the second half. The author spent WAY too much time rejoicing in the stupidity and self-delusion of the "experts" (especially Abraham Bredius) who never should have been fooled by Van M's ugly fakes -- but who instead spent a huge amount of time celebrating and publicizing paintings like "The Supper at Emmaus." Yes, the... more info
Spell? Interesting, but many parts are boring. Seems to repeat the same things over and over again.
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