13. Van Meegeren opted to make his crime a heroic act of defiance
On May 29, 1945, Dutch authorities arrested van Meegeren and charged him with selling Dutch cultural property to the Nazis. Labeled a collaborationist, he sat in Weteringschans Prison in Amsterdam, where the Nazis had held Jews and political prisoners prior to deportation. Finally, he requested an interview with Allied authorities and the press, where he announced Christ With the Adulterous had been forged by his own hands. He presented himself as willfully defrauding Hermann Goering as an act of defiance against the Nazi leaders, which had placed him at considerable risk. He hinted that part of the proceeds had supported the Dutch Resistance. The authorities didn’t believe him.
Van Meegeren then went further, identifying several Vermeers and paintings allegedly by Pieter de Hooch he had forged. The art experts who had previously claimed the paintings as genuine argued that van Meegeren simply lied to save his own skin. Most continued to claim the forgeries were legitimate works by the Dutch masters whose name appeared upon them. Van Meegeren’s claims of deliberately defrauding Goering fell on deaf ears. He had to prove he was guilty of the crime of fraud through forgery, and thus innocent of collaboration with the enemy. In order to do so, he suggested to the authorities that he create another forgery, in the style of Vermeer, while under their close supervision. The Dutch authorities transferred him to military custody while he created his final forgery.