Vermeer the Forger, Part Six

Vermeer’s Forgers

One of the most notorious art forgers in history was the miscreant, Han Van Meegeren (1889-1947). He is sited as much as he is because he had the juevos to engineer a swindle of the degenerate, Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe and Hitler’s number two. This event made Van Meegeren a popular figure in Holland after the war but it was also the reason he was caught. Had he not pulled a fast one on Iron Hermann, his Vermeer forgeries might still be part of the official canon.
His story is told several times, the best English language versions being “Van Meegeren, Master Forger” by an Irish Lord, Kilbracken, with the aid of Van Meegeren’s son; “The Forger’s Spell” by Edward Dolnick, and the superior “The Man Who Made Vermeers” by Jonathan Lopez. If you only have time for one, get the Lopez book.
Also of interest is the filmmaker Errol Morris’ multi-part essay about these events and books at the New York Times website.
(Christ at Emmaus, Han Van Meegeren’s most successful Vermeer forgery)

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Vermeer the Forger- Part Five

Vermeer’s Demise

Two events occurred between 1672 and 1674 that essentially broke Vermeer and hastened a quick and brutal end to his life at the age of forty three. The first disaster was the invasion of Holland by the French who were attempting to wrestle ports in the Netherlands away from Spain, the Catholic super power holding sway over the Protestant region. The immediate fallout was that the Dutch economy collapsed, leaving Delft in particular with holes in its pockets, prompting a mass exodus of tradesmen for Amsterdam, then the richest city in Europe.

Vermeer stayed put, having several children to feed, and he by default became one of the guild leaders as he was one of the few master grade painters left in town. This didn’t do him much good as the market for paintings vanished. It is at this point in time, if the eponymous claim of this series has any validity, that Vermeer may have, with the facilitation and cash flow of Pieter Van Ruijven, executed outright forgeries.

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What became of the recounts?

“Democracy was invented as a device for reconciling government with liberty. It is clear that government is necessary if anything worthy to be called civilization is to exist, but all history shows that any set of men entrusted with power over another set will abuse their power if they can do so with impunity. Democracy is intended to make men’s tenure of power temporary and dependent upon popular approval. Insofar as it achieves this it prevents the worst abuses of power. (Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays, 1959)

“No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by group leaders in who it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and clichés and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.” (Edward Bernays (“Father of Modern Advertising”), Propaganda, 1928)

“The chief problem of American political life for a long time has been how to make the two Congressional parties more national and international. The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy.” Prof. Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope, 1966)

Bernays words, that no serious sociologist believes in the voice of the people, neatly sums up the general attitude of our leadership class regarding elections: they are a necessary evil, but in no way should be allowed to influence public policy (as Professor Quigley makes clear). Consequently over the centuries American elections have always been the object of fraud and foul play. The only time the voice of the people is allowed to make a real choice is when the same people in power control both candidates. Then the votes can be counted and a winner legitimately declared. Thus I have no doubt that Nixon beat Humphrey in 1968.

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Did Those Uruguayan Rugby Players Really Start Eating Each Other?

It is known as “The Miracle of the Andes.” A plane of people, including Uruguayan Rugby players crashed in a remote area of the Andes mountain range. In waiting for help, they were forced to turn to eating the flesh of the passengers who died during the crash. Their story was made into a Hollywood movie in 1993, “Alive,” starring Ethan Hawke. True story or another public hoax?  Continue reading “Did Those Uruguayan Rugby Players Really Start Eating Each Other?” →

Vermeer the Forger, Part Four

Vermeer’s Women

Vermeer sired fifteen children, eleven of whom survived infancy. At least seven of these surviving children were female. The adult woman seen in several of his paintings is obviously his wife, Catherine. A few items have their maid, Tanneken Everpoel, at her side (or, as in The Milkmaid, going about her duties alone) Most others, after the first few paintings featuring tavern life, I believe featured one daughter or another.

His most famous model, the adolescent girl with the oriental headdress, or, if you prefer, Girl With a Pearl Earring, is either one of his oldest daughters, Maria or Elizabeth. I believe she is the same person in The Girl Writing a Letter.

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2017: Piece of Mindful

A certain blogger I know is a high school teacher. People who frequent this blog know to grant no special status on that profession, as its function is to keep the chains invisible.  This teacher does not know that, of course. (If teachers don’t know their own function, well, then, who was it that asked the famous question … “is our children learning?”)

This particular teacher promotes a method of intellectual exploration called use of “trusted sources.” Each step in the thought process must be sanctioned by a higher authority. It is our educational system reduced to its core:

                                                                    Obey.

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Vermeer the Forger, Part Three

Vermeer’s Visitors
There are two brief diary accounts of contemporaries meeting Vermeer: Pieter Teding van Berkhout (above) and Balthasar de Monconys (below). The former mentions seeing several Vermeer paintings of which their chief virtue was their “most extraordinary and curious perspectives”. Van Berkhout made two trips to see Vermeer originals; the first appears to have been to Pieter Van Ruijven’s digs to survey his collection*. There is no mention of a purchase, which is troubling because van Berkhout was a prominent collector. Odder still is the second diary entry, written a little more than a month after the first visit, which reads almost as if van Berkhout doesn’t recall meeting Vermeer that first time. It’s possible that Vermeer was not in attendance if van Berkhout did meet with van Ruijven the first time around.
*I’m convinced that Van Ruijven owned Vermeer’s entire output, even that which was yet to be painted. Vermeer worked for, was essentially indentured as an artist to, Van Ruijven; and that is why Van Ruijven’s son in law’s estate had over twenty Vermeer originals put up for auction in 1696.

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The Second Restoration

This blog was started in 2006 as a joint project between my son and I – he wrote for a year or so and then moved on, leaving it to me. I found it a nice outlet. Each morning my mind is awash in ideas, some even mildly interesting. So I kept at it, but did not understand how the concept of “blogging” had been captured by the two parties and was being used as a mechanism to keep the herds inside the fences. To my dismay I was removed from the links of party-affiliated blogs and banned from commenting. My manners were less harsh and my insight far better than people who remained loyal to the parties. Still, isolated and ignored in all the right places, I kept at it. It was something to do.

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Vermeer the Forger, Part Two

Pieter van Ruijven (1624-1674) loaned Vermeer two hundred guilders on or about 1657. There is no certainty as to why but I will construct an unverifiable narrative that breaks no laws of the physical universe nor confounds human nature within the context of the threadbare facts known of these two men’s lives. Van Ruijven had money; not massive amounts, but investment money. He played angles, something of a gambler, but a reasonably legit business man for the most part. One of his financial concerns was art dealership. The laws of the land forbade van Ruijven from actually dealing in art. The kind of man he sought out to front for him was financially brittle, with many mouths to feed and open to turning what skills and access he had to broader opportunities. This of course was Vermeer, guild member and legal art dealer. So too, he could handle a brush. The pairing allowed for van Ruijven to gain access to paintings and for Vermeer to exercise his photographically accurate rendering skills to copy said paintings.

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The execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém: Another Famous Photo is fake

vietna-execution-offical-photoWarning to readers: Below the fold are some gruesome photos of an alleged execution of a young Vietnamese boy in 1968, the famous Saigon Execution photo by famous war photographer Eddie Adams. I am convinced it was faked, and so have no problem showing both it and a related film clip of the incident. If you are squeamish about blood, be warned, read no further. If you do, take comfort, as it is fake blood.

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