Han van Meegeren

Van Meegeren wanted recognition as an artist, but critics dismissed his work. Stung, he pivoted to forging Dutch Golden Age masters - and leading experts, including collector Abraham Bredius, authenticated his fakes as genuine 17th-century paintings. During the Nazi occupation, Göring bought one of Van Meegeren's "Vermeers" and treasured it. After the war, Dutch authorities arrested Van Meegeren for selling national treasures to the enemy, a charge that carried the death penalty. He confessed the painting was his own forgery - a revelation that shifted him from traitor to trickster. Convicted of fraud, he was sentenced to a year in prison but died within two months after two heart attacks. A 1967 biography estimated his cons netted over $30 million from buyers including the Dutch government itself.