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play a farcical role in the Van Meegeren saga) in The Burlington Magazine. Decoen proposed that “at the age of 13 or 14, Vermeer was learning the rudiments of his art at Delft. He then left for Italy, where he remained two or three years (1648–1650), returned to Holland, stopped at Utrecht where he stayed during the following two years, and afterwards made his way to Delft, where from 1653 he installed himself finally.” Jean Decoen, “Shorter Notices: The New Museum at Rotterdam,” The Burlington Magazine 67, July/December 1935, pp. 131–32.

Vermeer indisputably knew…His mother-in-law owned Baburen’s Procuress, for example, and Vermeer painted it into the background of both The Concert and Lady Seated at a Virginal. See Blankert, Vermeer of Delft, p. 170, and Wheelock, ed., Johannes Vermeer, p. 16–17.

“They are related to early”…D. Hannema, Vermeer: Oorsprong en Invloed. (The title means “Origins and Influences.”)

“Perhaps tomorrow we will discover”…Pieter Koomen, Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten, December, 1935. See “Vermeer en zijn verwanten” (The title means “Vermeer and Related Artists.”)

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: IN THE FORGER’S STUDIO

He began with a trip…Doudart de la Grée, p. 82.

The Raising of Lazarus…P. B. Coremans, Van Meegeren’s Faked Vermeers and De Hooghs, p. 9.

Coremans was the scientist who proved that Van Meegeren’s “Vermeers” were indeed forgeries. His account of his findings is one of the essential Van Meegeren texts.

One modern-day expert estimates…Leo Stevenson, personal communication, Nov. 3, 2006.

The famously bare white wall…“The Milkmaid,” Wheelock, ed., Johannes Vermeer, p. 108. X-rays show that in Girl Asleep at a Table Vermeer painted over a dog in the doorway and a man in the next room. See Norbert Schneider, Vermeer, p. 27.

The canvas in front of him measured…Leo Stevenson, an English painter and art historian who has carried out experiments on scraping paint off old canvases, described the process to me. Personal communication, July 4, 2006.

The Girl with a Red Hat…“The Girl with the Red Hat,” Wheelock, ed., Johannes Vermeer, p. 162.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: CHRIST AT EMMAUS

The actual painting took…Coremans, p. 32.

“He did not copy Caravaggio’s”…Kraaijpoel, personal communication, Jan. 2, 2006.

They marveled at the painting’s “serenity”…C. Veth, “Meesterwerken uit vier eeuwen,” Maandblad voor Beeldende Kunsten 15, July 1938. (The title means “Masterpieces of Four Centuries.”)

Others were allusions to…Theodore Rousseau pointed out the allusions to Christ in the House of Mary and Martha, The Procuress, The Astronomer, and several more. See “The Stylistic Detection of Forgeries,” Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 26 (1967–68), 248.

The signature, a neat “I V Meer”…Albert Blankert, personal communication, Aug. 25, 2005.

“Do you know how long”…Doudart de la Grée, p. 91.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: UNDERGROUND TREMORS

That meant sliding…Coremans, p. 20.

In a typical seventeenth-century oil…Leo Stevenson spoke to me in great detail about how and why cracks form in oil paintings. Stevenson, who has carried out many experiments of his own, emphatically rejects Van Meegeren’s account.

“Nowadays you just use”…Kraaijpoel, personal communication, June 29, 2006.

“Like miniature tectonic plates”…Stevenson, personal communication, July 4, 2006.

Then, pushing gently but firmly…Doudart de la Grée.

Van Meegeren would later claim…Lord Kilbracken, Van Meegeren: Master Forger, p. 42.

The back of Jesus’ right hand…Ibid., p. 55.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: THE SUMMER OF 1937

“Germany has to realize”…Lopez, Sept. 29, 2006.

“They were confirmed anti-Fascists”…Ibid.

The collection numbered 162…Coremans, p. 30.

At the end of June 1937…As the rest of this chapter makes clear, this date is disputed. Kronig’s letter on July 1, 1937, quoted on page 182, refers to Boon’s recent visit to Bredius and to Emmaus. On August 30, 1937, Boon wrote to Bredius as if the two men had never met. In his letter to the NRC on March 2, 1938, Boon describes his first meeting with Bredius but does not mention a date.

Bredius