* "Jonathan Lopez's remarkable book is at once a thrilling detective story and a meticulously researched study in art and social history. We learn not only how -- but also why -- Van Meegeren came to paint the forgeries that became a sensation on the international market between the wars."
--Walter Liedtke, curator of European painting, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
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** "From the outrageous swindles he perpetrated in Vermeer's name to the nefarious dealings he had with the Nazis in occupied Holland, Han van Meegeren led an unforgettable, almost unbelievable life. Witty, erudite and utterly compelling, Jonathan Lopez's account of the twentieth century's most notorious art forger is a must read -- a book that makes Van Meegeren's fake Vermeers even more fascinating, I dare say, than the Delft master's originals."
--Caroline Weber, author of the critically acclaimed Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution
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"The Man Who Made Vermeers shatters the popular image of Han van Meegeren as a lone gunman or picaresque rogue. Jonathan Lopez reveals the master forger as an arch-opportunist, a cunning liar, and a fervent sympathizer of the fascist cause from as early as 1928. Deftly reconstructing an insidious network of illicit trade in the art market's underworld, Lopez allows few reputations to emerge unscathed in this gripping and delicious book.
--Koen Kleijn, De Groene Amsterdammer
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Jonathan Lopez is an American writer and art historian. Born in 1969 in New York City, he was educated there and at Harvard.
He writes a monthly column called "Talking Pictures" for Art & Antiques and is a frequent contributor to London-based Apollo: The International Magazine of the Arts, where he publishes exhibition reviews, feature articles, and scholarly work. His noted December 2007 Apollo article "Gross False Pretences" related the details of an acrimonious 1908 dispute between the art dealer Leo Nardus and the wealthy industrialist P. A. B. Widener of Philadelphia. He has also written for ARTnews, the Associated Press, US News & World Report, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune, and the Dutch newsweekly De Groene Amsterdammer.
His book, The Man Who Made Vermeers, is a biography of the Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren. Based on three years of archival research conducted in five nations, as well as interviews with the descendents of Van Meegeren's partners in crime, it has received extensive attention in the press, including from The New Yorker's Peter Schjeldahl, who cited the book for its "profoundly researched, focused, absorbing depth."
The Man Who Made Vermeers was a finalist for the National Award for Arts Writing and for the 2009 Edgar Allen Poe Award ("The Edgar") for the year's best non-fiction crime book - officially called the "Fact-crime" category by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization that sponsors the Edgar Awards.
Lopez has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington; the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; and other major cultural institutions. His next book, In the Light of God, will be a biography of Vincent van Gogh, emphasizing the role of faith, Evangelism, and spiritual striving in the artist's life and work.
Lopez lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a professor and art critic, and their dog, Charley, who is a yellow Labrador Retriever.
The Man Who Made Vermeers - Amazon.com Editors' Choice: Top 10 Books of the Year (Arts Category)
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The New Yorker loves The Man Who Made Vermeers!
Click here to read the New Yorker review
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Podcast: Jonathan Lopez discusses The Man Who Made Vermeers on ABC Radio National's "Late Night Live" with Phillip Adams.
>>>>>>>>>Lecture: Jonathan Lopez speaking on Vermeer and Old Master forgery at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as part of the gallery's "Notable Lectures" series. Listen Now>>
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Order your copy of The Man Who Made Vermeers from Amazon.com
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The Man Who Made Vermeers in the blogs and on the web:
Errol Morris - Zoom - at NYTimes.com
Extraordinary! Han van Meegeren, who died in 1947, now has his very own blog: The Forger Strikes Back
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Don't miss
Jonathan
Lopez's
article on
Andrew Mellon's
fakes:
in the online
archives of
APOLLO
THE
INTERNATIONAL
MAGAZINE
OF THE ARTS
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Apollo Magazine
22 Old Queen Street
London, SW1H 9HP