In Dutch newspapers they were sometimes called Dollar Kings: the American millionaires who had amassed large fortunes during the last quarter of the nineteenth century by investing in railroads, shipping lines, oil or steel. Part of their wealth they spent on paintings, drawings, prints and other art forms. At first, the art works were displayed in the magnificent villas they had erected for themselves. When these villas became too small to house their expanding collections, they supported the building of museums where all their treasures could be shown to the public. In particular in the big cities on the east coast prominent art museums were established.

The American collectors' passion was focused mainly on the European market. The short history of the young state had not yielded fifteenth-, sixteenth-, or seventeenth-century American masters. These masters were only to be found in Europe. Agents of American collectors searched the European art market. In particular the seventeenth-century Dutch masters aroused the desire of the nouveaux riches. Soon, hardly any art works of any significance were to be found on the old continent. As soon as an art work appeared on the market, Americans seized their chances and another European cultural artefact disappeared to the other side of the ocean.

One Dutch newspaper wrote, somewhat bitterly, that it would soon be impossible to organise a decent exhibition of Dutch masters. To see them one would have to go to America!

In Nederland schreef een krant enigszins zuur dat het weldra onmogelijk zou zijn om een behoorlijke tentoonstelling van Hollandse meesters te organiseren. Om die te zien moest men eerst naar Amerika!