NEW YORK, NY.- A reading and book signing with Edward Dolnick, author of The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century (Random House, $26.99), will take place at The Jewish Museum , 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, on Thursday, February 12 at 6:30 pm. The Forger’s Spell is a riveting account of painter Han van Meegeren, who dared to forge the works of the 17th–century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. Dolnick will discuss van Meegeren’s genius for manipulation, which enabled him to come incredibly close to fooling the world with his forgeries.

For seven years Han van Meegeren passed off his paintings as those of Vermeer, one of the most beloved and admired artists who ever lived. But, as Edward Dolnick reveals, the reason for the forger's success was not his artistic skill. Van Meegeren was a mediocre artist whose true talent lay in psychological manipulation, and he was able to fool many in the art world, as well as Hermann Goering, one of the most reviled leaders of Nazi Germany and a fanatic collector of art. Ultimately, as his deeds came to light after World War II, Van Meegeren landed in an Amsterdam court on trial for his life. The Washington Post calls The Forger’s Spell a “gripping historical narrative” and The New York Times says that Dolnick “has a novelist’s talent for characterization, and he raises fascinating questions.”

Edward Dolnick is the author of Down the Great Unknown, The Rescue Artist, and Madness on the Couch. A former chief science writer at the Boston Globe, he has written for the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. He lives with his wife near Washington, D.C.