The Netherlands Institute for Art History opened in 1932. Three men made the biggest contribution to the Institute's collection. The first man was Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863–1930). He was a collector, art historian and museum curator. In his will, he left the RKD his large collection of documents. These included about 100,000 photos of Dutch paintings and drawings from the 17th century. The second man was Frits Lugt (1884-1970). He was also a collector and art historian. He gave the institute over 100,000 reproductions of paintings, 22,000 auction catalogues and thousands of books. The third man was E.A. van Beresteyn (1876-1948), an archivist and historian. He gave the institute a lot of material on Dutch portrait painting.