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, "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, features, 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. Upon its publication, "Gross False Pretences" was praised in The Guardian (UK) and has since been cited widely in the academic literature on the history of collecting.
Lopez serves as a correspondent for The Boston Globe's Sunday books section and is a contributing writer for the entertainment desk of the Associated Press. He has also published with ARTnews, US News & World Report,The International Herald Tribune, the magazine Antiques, and the Dutch newsweekly De Groene Amsterdammer. Lopez is a member of the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) and of the US section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA).
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 Allan Poe Award ("The Edgar") for the year's best non-fiction crime book - 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, D.C.; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, among other institutions. His next book, In the Light of God, will be a biography of Vincent van Gogh, emphasizing the role of faith, Evangelism, and the cultural underpinnings of the Dutch Reformed Church in the artist's life and work.
Lopez lives in Manhattan with his wife, who is a professor of art history, and their dog, Charley, who is a yellow Labrador Retriever.
Charley at 4 months.
Video
Cleveland Museum of Art: November 11, 2009
Jonathan Lopez discusses Vermeer and Old Master forgery
Podcast: Jonathan Lopez discusses Vermeer and Old Master forgery at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, as part of the NGA's "Notable Lecture" series.
