The Forge's Spell - Characters

Van Meegeren, age 57, is a small man with a well trimmed mustache, although he has a two day growth of beard from his stay in prison. His prison stay has not affected his posture, which is straight and proud. He is direct, but polite and he speaks with an affected upper class accent. The war years have been very easy on Han. After a promising start his artistic career never earned the respect of the art establishment, who considered Van Meegeren to be more of a glorified illustrator. He became best known as a portrait painter to the newly rich and he himself has managed to acquire a fortune that cannot be explained by his income as an artist.

Motivation - Money was a secondary motive for Van Meegeren. His primary motive was revenge against the art world that rejected him.

Unlike Van Meegeren, Joop Pillar, 29, did not weather the war well. A young Jewish field officer investigating Nazi art theft, he is tall and somewhat gaunt and bears a slight limp from a leg injury sustained fighting for the Dutch Resistance. He is brutally direct, but he rarely makes eye contact with suspects, preferring to hunch over the table as he speaks to his files. Pillar has become the scourge of Dutch collaborators, hunting those who grew wealthy working for the Nazis. Van Meegeren's unexplained wealth and appearance of his name on the paperwork related to the bill of sale convinces Pillar that he must be guilty.

Motivation - revenge again those who aided the Nazi plunder. His Jewish heritage only intensifies the motive.

Art historians at the Boijman Museum in Rotterdam. Bredius is older, heavy set. He is gregarious and talkative, easily excitable. Hannama is younger and slender. He is sullen and stiff. They form a mismatched pair that provides both the conflict and resolution of the story.