10. Van Meegeren painted a fake Vermeer which attracted Hermann Goering
The exact machinations which led to a fake Vermeer ending up in the hands of Hermann Goering remain unclear. Sometime prior to mid-1942 van Meegeren created a painting in the style of Vermeer and signed it with Vermeer’s name. Alois Miedl acquired the painting, called Christ with the Adulteress, in 1942. Whether or not he did so at the request of Hermann Goering remains murky, but Goering exchanged over 150 pieces of art, most of it looted, to acquire the fake Vermeer. Goering, an avid collector, had long wanted a Vermeer to display at his estate at Carinhall, near Berlin. He displayed it prominently, eagerly conducting guests to view his latest acquisition, which in his eyes added to his brilliance as an appraiser and collector of art.
The number two Nazi never learned, according to most historians, that the painting he displayed so proudly was a fake. Some anecdotes relate that he learned of it just before he took his own life, though there is little evidence to support them. Whether van Meegeren knew the painting’s ultimate destination was with Goering is also uncertain, since he gave many conflicting accounts of the deal in later years. At any rate, as the flamboyant, garishly made-up Goering strutted about Carinhall boasting of his taste, he described a painting upon which Johannes Vermeer’s eyes had never rested. In 1943 Christ with the Adulteress joined other works of art acquired by Goering hidden in a salt mine, along with the records of what the purchase cost him. He paid the highest price ever recorded for a painting up to that time.