Paul Coremans

Belgian chemist and head of the Central Laboratory of Belgian Museums, first-named member of the seven-expert commission whose court report established that Han van Meegeren's "Vermeers" were modern forgeries — not by connoisseurship but by material analysis, finding a 20th-century phenol-formaldehyde ("Bakelite") binding medium in paint that could not have existed before 1907. He published the case as Van Meegeren's Faked Vermeers and De Hooghs: A Scientific Examination (Meulenhoff/ Cassell, 1949), the monograph this vault has now tried and failed to read directly across three sessions (2026-07-11, 2026-07-12, 2026-07-29) — it sits behind archive.org's controlled-digital-lending wall, and the one modern secondary written specifically about his contribution (Wallert & van de Laar, KIK-IRPA Scientia Artis 15, 2018) is likewise blocked at orfeo.belnet.be. He later founded KIK-IRPA, the Belgian cultural-heritage institute that still holds his archive. His chemical evidence was publicly contested at the time by the art dealer Jean Decoen and collector D.G. van Beuningen — a counter-narrative thread the vault has not yet chased.

References

• claim-coremans-bakelite-in-paint-proved-van-meegeren-vermeers-were-forgeries
• claim-van-meegeren-forged-a-vermeer-under-court-supervision-to-escape-a-treason-charge
• 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