For most forgers, the art of becoming a fraud is a skill learnt with time, trial and error. For Han van Meegeren’s son Jacques, it appeared that geneshelp tidy or clean brushes. In later years, he accompanied his father on trips to art dealers or museums, offering him an insight into the inner workings of the world van Meegeren inhabited. Jacques learned how to sketch and draw, although he still had to endure periods of paternal neglect. But there is no denying that his father would have a dramatic influence on him upon reaching adulthood. Han van Meegeren had already filed for bankruptcy when he died – this left Jacques without a substantial inheritance, which he partly offset by painting commissioned portraits. At that stage, however, his late father’s forgeries, since revealed for what they were, had become popular unto themselves. Jacques eventually began forging Han van Meegeren’s signature on his own works, enabling them to sell for much higher prices. His Biblical depictions bore a vague resemblance to the elder van Meegeren in most instances, yet he struggled to replicate the quality of his father’s earlier paintings and so his funds dwindled. Having become bitter and by then drinking heavily, Jacques died in 1977. The parallels between the two forgers’ lives a generation apart are both intriguing and tragic.
