A new Vermeer/Van Meegeren revisited
2016-2022
4 colored-in collages
mounted on
museum board
+ text
(one work)
each mounted on
80 x 60 cm
Luuk Wilmering
During the Second World War, my grandfather became friends with painter and art forger Han Van Meegeren. They got to know each other after Van Meegeren bought the house at Keizersgracht 321 in 1943, which was close to my grandpa's business. I don't know exactly what that friendship was like, I only know that my grandfather was quite flamboyant and easy-going with others.
My grandfather had a successful clothing business and he loved art. In September 1940, he moved his office and showroom to Keizersgracht 278. First under the name Küppers Rokken Industrie, later as Küppers Confection Industry.
He also exhibited art in his showroom. Often paintings from the Dutch Romantic period and the Hague School, but according to my mother, my grandfather also exhibited at least one painting by Van Meegeren. My mother was convinced that this was a Vermeer forgery, as it later turned out to be. I don't know exactly which painting it was, and I don't even know if it's all true, but I've known this story since my early childhood. Over the years, it came up again and again whenever painting was discussed in some way, or Van Meegeren's drawing, which hung in my sisters' bedroom.
