This is not a Vermeer!

https://medium.com/message/this-is-not-a-vermeer-67b752b150c0

Vermeers-the Known Knowns

This is a dizzying, fun ride by Rex Sorgath, that challenges the assumption of what constitutes original art- it it a fake or real and the moneyed interests that have the power to change that. It is nice to find out that Goering- that arch Nazi sold over a hundred of his paintings to buy what turned out to be a fake Vermeer ( it actually is a pretty wretched painting by my standards). Even surrounded by his 'art experts' Goering was snookered- or his learned minions, perhaps thinking fondly of their heads declined to disagree with him once he had his mind set on that particular oeuvre. It blurs the borders as to what original art is and what constitutes plagiarism, copying and faking.

I found this on http://www.newcriterion.com/. The New Criterion was founded, I believe in 1998 by  the eminent New York Times art  critic Hilton Kramer who at that point in life conflated the contemporary artistic decadence he saw with liberalism. Jed Perl wrote an excellent essay as to why the heretofore excellent writer got his head on wrong.http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/102552/hilton-kramer-new-york-times-new-criterion-art-critic-aesthetics-neoconservative-philistine The New Criterion is quite conservative politically- but is a great place to get an intelligent counterpoint to ones assumptions.

The New Criterion has some wonderful articles on art and culture if you want to find an intelligent refuge from those who think that Koons is the new Messiah and Kara Walker is the new Madonna of contemporary art. It is not conservative criticism and they range quite far afield- Jed Perl used to be their critic before he decamped to The New Republic.