---
title: "Paul Coremans"
type: "entity"
entity_kind: "person"
status: "hub"
canonical_name: "Paul Coremans"
aliases: ["Paul B. Coremans","Prof. dr. Paul Coremans"]
first_seen: "2026-07-29T00:00:00.000Z"
writer_model: "claude-sonnet-5"
connects_to: ["van Meegeren forgery case","phenol-formaldehyde / Bakelite mechanism","forensic authentication","KIK-IRPA"]
---


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