The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
by: Edward Dolnick
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Product Description:
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.
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.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Utterly feeble
"The Forger's Spell" offers up a cartoon version of history, leavened, to ill effect, by bombastic and cliche-ridden writing. Edward Dolnick seems to think of the Van Meegeren story as a light-hearted romp through World War II, where war criminals like Hermann Goering are shown to be "rubes" by the clever forger. That Van Meegeren himself was a Nazi-sympathizer seems unimportant in this storyline, as does the fact that there was nothing particularly humorous about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. ... Read More
Rating: - the forger
I almost gave this a 5 star. It is a really well written detailed book about the man who fooled Goering and sold him a fake bill of goods during WW11 and learning afterwards what Goering's reaction was is what the cost of this book.
However, somewhere in the middle of this book, the author strays a bit and goes into too much detail about other forgers and the book loses me. It would have rated a 5 star had it stayed with the main culprit of this story, possibly resulting in the book being leaner.
Rating: 
- Great Book
Wonderfully engaging and informative book! I highly recommend it, as well as the documentary, Rape of Europa, for further context on the highly fraught artistic landscape during WWII under Hitler.
Rating: - 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.... Read More
Rating: - 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 ... Read More
- Utterly feeble"The Forger's Spell" offers up a cartoon version of history, leavened, to ill effect, by bombastic and cliche-ridden writing. Edward Dolnick seems to think of the Van Meegeren story as a light-hearted romp through World War II, where war criminals like Hermann Goering are shown to be "rubes" by the clever forger. That Van Meegeren himself was a Nazi-sympathizer seems unimportant in this storyline, as does the fact that there was nothing particularly humorous about the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. ... Read More
- the forgerI almost gave this a 5 star. It is a really well written detailed book about the man who fooled Goering and sold him a fake bill of goods during WW11 and learning afterwards what Goering's reaction was is what the cost of this book.
However, somewhere in the middle of this book, the author strays a bit and goes into too much detail about other forgers and the book loses me. It would have rated a 5 star had it stayed with the main culprit of this story, possibly resulting in the book being leaner.
- Great BookWonderfully engaging and informative book! I highly recommend it, as well as the documentary, Rape of Europa, for further context on the highly fraught artistic landscape during WWII under Hitler.
- Short course in psychology, art and forgeryNot 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.... Read More
- the forger's spellThe 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 ... Read More
