The history of faking is nearly as old as the history of art. Dutchman Van Meegeren (1889-1947) produced a stream of “Vermeers” and was sentenced to a year in prison for fraud.

The history of faking is nearly as old as the history of art, and for as long as there have been documents, there have been forgeries. “This is not a lie, it is indeed the truth,” runs an inscription of the earliest forgery we know, a Babylonian cuneiform inscription from…

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…