Artforgerist Van Meegeren had been cleared of collaboration but not of forgery. He had made his pile not by collaborating but by forging seven Vermeers and two Pieter de Hooches.

It was far too much money for an honest Dutchman to have made during the German occupation. But when Artist Hans van Meegeren was accused of collaborating and was asked to explain his quick fortune of $3,024,000, he had an answer ready. Said Van Meegeren: he had made his pile…

Hans van Meegeren, art-forgerist, while awaiting trial in an Amsterdam jail (for collaboration with the Nazis), was painting another Vermeer.

When one Hans van Meegeren, a little-known Dutch Nazi painter, owned to forging seven recently “discovered” Vermeers (TIME, July 30), art experts laughed him off as a nut. They had reason to: the masterpieces had been painstakingly authenticated by them, by chemical, X-ray and infra-red tests.

Last week, while awaiting …