---
title: "Han van Meegeren"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Han van Meegeren"
aliases: ["Henricus Antonius van Meegeren"]
first_seen: "2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["Vermeer forgery","Paul Coremans","phenol-formaldehyde / Bakelite mechanism","Nazi-collaboration trial","forensic authentication"]
---


Dutch painter (1889–1947) who forged Vermeers and de Hooghs, most famously selling
*Christ with the Adulteress* to Hermann Göring during the German occupation of the
Netherlands. Arrested in 1945 on the capital charge of collaboration for trading a
national treasure to the enemy, he escaped execution by admitting the painting was
his own forgery and proving it — painting a fresh fake, *Jesus among the Doctors*,
under court and press supervision. His confession-by-demonstration was corroborated
independently by [[entity-paul-coremans|Paul Coremans]]'s chemical analysis, which
found a modern phenol-formaldehyde ("Bakelite") binding medium in the paint — a
substance that could not predate 1907, making a genuine 17th-century origin
physically impossible. Convicted only of forgery, he received a one-year sentence
and died of a heart attack in December 1947 before serving it. The case recurs in
this vault as a paired example of two independent authentication methods —
demonstration and material anachronism — proving the same fact.

## References
- [[claim-van-meegeren-forged-a-vermeer-under-court-supervision-to-escape-a-treason-charge]]
- [[claim-coremans-bakelite-in-paint-proved-van-meegeren-vermeers-were-forgeries]]
- [[question-verify-coremans-1949-bakelite-resin-mechanism-primary]]
- Captures: 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-09-hop-van-meegeren-science-catches-forgers.md, 10-inbox/raw/2026-07-29-does-coremanss-1949-monograph-confirm-that-bakelitealbertol-phenol.md