Preface xiii
Part One OCCUPIED HOLLAND
1 A Knock on the Door
3
2 Looted Art
6
3 The Outbreak of War
9
4 Quasimodo
14
5 The End of Forgery?
18
6 Forgery 101
22
7 Occupied Holland
26
8 The War Against the Jews
30
9 The Forger's Challenge
33
10 Bargaining with Vultures
40
11 Van Meegeren's Tears
44
Part Two HERMAN GOERING AND JOHANNES VERMEER
12 Hermann Goering
51
13 Adolf Hitler
55
14 Chasing Vermeer
57
15 Goering's Art Collection
62
16 Insights from a Forger
66
17 The Amiable Psychopath
77
18 Goering's Prize
82
19 Vermeer
85
20 Johannes Vermeer, Superstar
88
21 A Ghost's Fingerprints
93
Part Three THE SELLING OF CHRIST AT EMMAUS
22 Two Forged Vermeers
105
23 The Expert's Eye
109
24 A Forger's Lessons
115
25 Bredius
121
26 "Without Any Doubt!"
127
27 The Uncanny Valley
132
28 Betting the Farm
137
29 Lady and Gentleman at the Harpsichord
139
30 Dirk Hannema
145
31 The Choice
150
32 The Caravaggio Connection
163
33 In the Forger's Studio
167
34 Christ at Emmaus
170
35 Underground Tremors
173
36 The Summer of 1937
179
37 The Lamb at the Bank
186
38 "Every Inch a Vermeer"
192
39 Two Weeks and Counting
198
40 Too Late!
201
41 The Last Hurdle
203
42 The Unveiling
207
Part Four ANATOMY OF A HOAX
43 Scandal in the Archives
213
44 All in the Timing
218
45 Believing Is Seeing
223
46 The Men Who Knew Too Much
227
47 Blue Monday
234
48 He Who Hesitates
239
49 The Great Changeover
243
Part Five THE CHASE
50 The Secret in the Salt Mine
249
51 The Dentist's Tale
252
52 Goering on the Run
256
53 The Nest Egg
260
54 Trapped!
262
55 "I Painted It Myself!"
265
56 Command Performance
272
57 The Evidence Piles Up
276
58 The Trial
289
59 The Players Make Their Exits
288
Epilogue 291
Notes 295
Bibliography 325
Acknowledgments 331
Index 333