Han van Meegeren was born on October 10th, 1889 in Deventer, in the center of the Netherlands. He dreamed of becoming a painter, but his ambitions were immediately put down by his father, a rigid teacher, who did not believe in his talent. His parents enrolled him in architecture school, but he secretly gave it up for the Fine Arts. Bartus Korteling, his traditionalist and no less rigid teacher, considered only works from the Golden Age of painting worthy of interest. He taught Han van Meegeren the techniques of the great 17th century Dutch masters : the preparation of canvases, colors and drawings.