Free The Forger's Spell: A True Story Of Vermeer, Nazis, And The Greatest Art Hoax Of The Twentieth Century (P.S.) Ebooks To Download
As riveting as a World War II thriller, The Forger's Spell is the true story of three men and an extraordinary deception: the revered artist Johannes Vermeer; the small-time Dutch painter who dared to impersonate him years later; and the con man's mark, Hermann Goering, the fanatical art collector and one of Nazi Germany's most reviled leaders.
File Size: 4569 KB
Print Length: 384 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books (October 13, 2009)
Publication Date: October 13, 2009
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B001BAKUXA
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray: Not Enabled
Word Wise: Not Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: #213,326 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store) #30 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Art > Art History > Regional > European #57 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Arts & Photography > Art > Art History > Schools, Periods & Styles > Modern #150 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > True Crime > Hoaxes & Deceptions
Han Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist with an enormous ego. Convinced that his talents were being maliciously ignored by the Dutch artistic community, he used considerable patience and ingenuity to develop a way of forging paintings by some of the greatest artists of Holland's Golden Age, especially those of Johannes Vermeer. His activities peaked during the Great Depression and the Nazi takeover of Holland during World War II, a time period when the Dutch were especially vulnerable as they looked for reminders of a more peaceful, prosperous, past.When I first opened this book I looked at the illustrations first. Comparing the Van Meegeren "art" with the real Vermeers completely confused me. If someone like me with no art training could spot the differences between sublime works like "Girl With A Pearl Earring" and travesties like "Christ at Emmaus," why on earth couldn't experts and cognoscenti do the same? Edward Dolnick does a good job of explaining the role preconceptions and prejudices play in evaluating a suspect painting and the way the milieu of the period affects judgement. Therefore, in the 1930s the Van Meegeren forgeries could pass muster because they displayed generally accepted views on beauty. Ten years later they were very obviously fakes because by then they looked out of date, which a true masterpiece could never do.I found Dolnick's discussions of the methods forgers use and the ways forgeries are detected the most interesting parts of this book. I disliked Van Meegeren at first, but he grew on me despite myself for the sheer brazenness of his gall and his obvious delight in fooling so many experts for so long.
The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century (P.S.) The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax of 1969 (The Great Zodiac Killer Hoax series Book 2) Composing for the State: Music in Twentieth-Century Dictatorships (Musical Cultures of the Twentieth Century) Johannes Vermeer (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art Farewell: The Greatest Spy Story of the Twentieth Century Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Han van Meegeren Adolfo Kaminsky: A Forger's Life Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus: Updated and Expanded 3rd Edition, in Dictionary Form (Roget's Twentieth-First Century Thesaurus in Dictionary Form) Delphi Complete Works of Johannes Vermeer (Illustrated) (Masters of Art Book 2) The Great Prostate Hoax: How Big Medicine Hijacked the PSA Test and Caused a Public Health Disaster The Great Retirement Hoax: An Indictment of Universal Life Insurance (Traditional & Indexed), the Insurance Companies That Offer Them, and the Sa Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the "Paul Is Dead" Hoax The Priory of Sion: Hoax, Conspiracy, or Secret Society? Rescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It Hitler's Art Thief: Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe's Treasures
