The Art of Painting
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ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY SECTION EDITOR: JAMES C. HARRIS, MD The Art of Painting It is a wonderful moment in the life of a lover of art when he finds himself suddenly confronted with a hitherto un- known painting by a great master, untouched, on the original canvas, and without any restoration, just as it left the painter’s studio!...wehaveherea—Iaminclined to say—the masterpiece of Johannes Vermeer of Delft. Abraham Bredius, 19371(p211) . your [van Meegeren] work satisfied a personal, secret ambition to discover once in our lifetime a truly great masterpiece. Knowing our desires, you laid a trap....intheendwewereallcaught out. P. B. Coremans’ expert testimony at trial of van Meegeren, 19472(p217) Supper at Emmaus, van Meegeren. N THE AFTERNOON OF son in April 1945.4 Mortality more than night before his execution was to take May 14, 1940, the Ger- doubled that winter and fertility dropped place knowing he had been duped! man Luftwaffe bombed by half. Increased rates of major mental At the trial, art experts eventually ac- the civilian center of Rot- illnesses in adulthood in the surviving off- knowledged that they were misled by Oterdam in The Netherlands, leaving it in spring of those starving pregnant women their hopes (epigraph). For them, the ruins. Seeing the extent of devastation, are now well documented.5 paintings seemed to fill gaps in knowl- and threatened with the bombing of Faced with a hostile public and the edge about Vermeer between 2 impor- other major cities, the Dutch surren- prospect of extensive prison time for col- tant periods in his life. Yet they claimed dered shortly afterwards. The Nether- laboration, van Meegeren confessed that in court that they were all sure that they lands were of strategic importance to would eventually have recognized the Germany, but to Hermann Göring, com- forgeries. mander in chief of the Luftwaffe, it was As the court case proceeded, van also a prime site for plundering Dutch Meegeren became a folk hero in the eyes art. Göring, second in command to Adolf of the general public, someone who had Hitler, was notorious for confiscating or duped a major leader of the Occupa- purchasing great art and imagined him- tion forces. At one point, he was voted, self to be a connoisseur. after the Dutch prime minister, the sec- The work of Johannes Vermeer (1632- ond most popular man in The Nether- 1675) was highly valued because of its lands. An article in the Saturday Evening rarity (only 35 authenticated paint- Post in the United States by Irving Wal- ings), the uniqueness of his composi- lace celebrated him as the man who tions, and his use of light. Hitler had ac- duped and cheated Göring. On Novem- quired Vermeer’s The Art of Painting ber 12, 1947, van Meegeren was found (cover) in November 1940, and Göring, guilty of fraud, not treason, despite evi- who vied with Hitler in collecting art, dence that he did, in fact, sympathize sought to own a Vermeer himself. His op- with the Nazis and had sent an auto- portunity came in 1943 when his agents Figure 1. Christ and the Woman Taken in graphed book of his drawings to Hitler Adultery, van Meegeren. purchased Christ and the Woman Taken that was found among Hitler’s posses- in Adultery (Figure 1), ostensibly an au- he had forged Vermeer, hoping to be tried sions. The desire was just too great to thenticated, newly discovered Vermeer. for fraud rather than treason. His claims believe that someone had tricked the en- 3(p320) The price was 1.5 million guilders, were not believed; Dutch Vermeer art crit- emy. After his conviction, van Meegeren paid in kind by returning 200 confis- ics had authenticated his forgeries as lost was sentenced to 1 year in prison. He cated Dutch paintings from his collec- masterpieces and reaffirmed their assess- never served his sentence. While in cus- tion (he had thousands). ments. Abraham Bredius (1855-1946), tody, van Meegeren, who had a long his- The Vermeer became the center- the leading authority of that era on Ver- tory of morphine addiction and vene- piece of Göring’s art collection (http:// meer, had announced that Supper at Em- real disease, had a heart attack and died greatesttheft.com/home.php). Shortly af- maus, showing the risen Christ with his on December 30, 1947. ter Germany’s surrender in May 1945, disciples3 (epigraph) (thumbnail), was the Many scholars such as Bredius be- his prized Vermeer was found by the Al- greatest of Vermeer’s paintings, but van lieved many of Vermeer’s paintings might lies in the possession of his personal at- Meegeren claimed that painting, as well be missing, particularly works that might tendant and confiscated by them.4 Two as Göring’s, was forged. So convinced bridge the gap between his early reli- weeks later, Dutch artist Han van were the critics of the painting’s legiti- gious work and his later genre painting Meegeren (1889-1947) was arrested and macy that it was only after van Meegeren’s of daily life. Bredius based his belief that charged with Nazi wartime collabora- forgery techniques were scientifically Vermeer had an early religious period on tion and treason for selling this paint- evaluated by the Coremans commis- 2 early paintings. In 1899, he discov- ing, Dutch cultural property, to Göring. sion2 and van Meegeren painted a new ered Vermeer’s Allegory of Faith, a paint- While much of the city’s population fake Vermeer, Christ Teaching in the ing filled with Christian religious sym- suffered during what became known as Temple, that the experts believed his bolism. He also authenticated an earlier the Dutch Hunger Winter, van Meegeren claims. On learning of the forgery, Göring, Vermeer, Christ in the Home of Martha and had lived in luxury. A Nazi blockade that then a prisoner at Nuremberg, was re- Mary (Figure 2), discovered in Lon- began the previous October led to wide- ported to look “as if for the first time he don. That painting shows a parable about spread starvation; the daily food ration had had discovered evil in the world.”2(p209) He faith that involves 2 sisters: Mary sits on dropped to less than 500 calories per per- died by self-poisoning with cyanide the a stool facing Christ, attentively engag- (REPRINTED) ARCH GEN PSYCHIATRY/ VOL 66 (NO. 3), MAR 2009 WWW.ARCHGENPSYCHIATRY.COM 234 ©2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 09/28/2021 ing him, while Martha, who seems dis- cracks to enhance the effect. He roughed them. The realistic 17th-century Dutch tracted, stands at his shoulder with down- up the canvas to simulate wear and re- interior is illuminated by light from a cast eyes and holds a basket of bread. It attached it to the frame using the origi- window on the left wall. The depth of was known that Vermeer, raised in Prot- nal 17th-century nails.6 field and viewer’s perspective suggest estant Delft, had married a Catholic When finished, van Meegeren found that Vermeer used the camera obscura woman and is thought to have con- a respected lawyer to act as an interme- lens to compose this scene.8 verted. The paintings and Vermeer’s life diary with Bredius, convincing the law- Each of the objects in the room is story had convinced Bredius and other yer that the sale was to benefit a poor fam- drawn in exquisite detail, the fabrics, the critics that there must be other such re- ily who had owned the painting for clothing, and the map illustrating his ligious paintings that were lost, perhaps generations. The elderly Bredius, now in technical skill. A mask lies face up on the done secretly because Catholicism was a his 80s, ultimately authenticated the table, symbolizing imatatio (imitation), minority religion in Delft. It was also painting as Vermeer’s masterpiece (epi- reminding us that art imitates visual re- widely believed that Vermeer was influ- graph), and despite the early objections ality. The artist’s costume and the set- enced by the Italian master Caravaggio. of other European critics, convinced ting suggest a sense of history. His cos- Knowing the critics’ expectations, van Dutch critics of its authenticity, even tume is that of an earlier era, suggesting Meegeren painted a version of Christ and helping to pay for its purchase and place- the artist’s identification with his prede- his disciples at Emmaus based on the ment in a Rotterdam museum. A mod- cessors. The map is an exact replica signed composition of a Caravaggio painting on ern viewer finds difficulty believing that with the name of its maker; the map this same theme. The painting shows the van Meegeren’s forgeries could have been shows the 17 provinces of The Nether- moment when, 3 days after his crucifix- accepted as genuine. However, once Sup- lands as they were historically, before the ion, Christ is recognized as risen from the per at Emmaus with its cadaverous Christ peace treaty of 1648, a time before the dead when he breaks bread with 2 of his was accepted, it became the template for northern and southern provinces were disciples in the village of Emmaus. In acceptance of other, similar forgeries that separated. The chandelier represents the choosing the Supper at Emmaus for the followed, like Göring’s. All told, the art recent past with its double-eagle em- forgery, in a sense, van Meegeren sought blem of the Hapsburgs, who had juris- his revenge on the critics. He was a com- diction over the 17 provinces.