I Was Vermeer

The extraordinary story of Han van Meegeren, a second-rate painter who became the world's greatest art forger

‘Van Meegeren's story is fascinating and deserves to remain in the public consciousness' Guardian

‘Wynne retells the story with brio, producing the genuine article: a page-turning read' Sunday Times

In 1945, a small-time Dutch art dealer was arrested for selling a forgery of a priceless national treasure - a painting by Vermeer - to Hitler's right-hand man.

The charge was treason, the only possible sentence death. And yet Han van Meegeren languished in his dank prison cell, incapable of uttering the words that would set him free: ‘I am a forger.'

This riveting account of greed, hubris, excess, treason and fine art is the story of a failed artist and the greatest forger of all time, who executed a swindle which earned him the equivalent of fifty million dollars and the acclaim of the very critics who had mocked him.