“in 1892 the fever for Vermeers had just begun to spike. Soon every millionaire worth knowing had thrown his checkbook into the ring. In 1900, Collis P. Huntington, the railroad tycoon, bequeathed Vermeer’s Woman Playing a Lute to the Met. In 1901, it was Henry Frick’s turn to buy, though the steel magnate kept his Vermeer for himself. This was Girl Interrupted at Her Music, which can be seen at the Frick today. In 1907, J. P. Morgan got in on the game. Morgan collected art and other valuables on the grandest scale”
The Forger's Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century
