Join for a JAC Talk with Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., one of the foremost scholars of Dutch and Flemish painting. Wheelock will discuss the infamous “Van Meegeren Affair,” the 1947 trail in which Dutch forger Han van Meegeren argued that he had not sold priceless Vermeer paintings to the Nazis but had instead deceived them into purchasing his own forgeries. The case stunned the Dutch public and the art-historical establishment, especially after it was revealed that The Supper at Emmaus—long celebrated by Dutch scholars as one of Vermeer’s greatest works—had in fact been painted by Van Meegeren.

This talk traces how the scandal reshaped scholarly understandings of Vermeer’s oeuvre, prompting art historians to reconsider works that had previously been attributed to the artist. Wheelock will focus in particular on Young Woman Seated at a Virginal in The Leiden Collection, exploring the painting’s complex attribution history, its place within debates around Vermeer, and its recent conservation treatment.

RSVP encouraged, pay-what-you-can.