Jacob Dissius

Jacob Abrahamsz. Dissius (1653 — 1695) was a Dutch typographer and printer. He inherited a collection of 21 of Johannes Vermeer's works, including The Milkmaid, Portrait of a Young Woman, A Girl Asleep, Woman Holding a Balance, and The Music Lesson. In 1680, he married Magdalena, daughter and sole heir of Vermeer's main patron Maria de Knuijt, her mother, with her father Pieter van Ruijven. Dissius died in 1695, and his collection was auctioned off in Amsterdam the following year.

Biography Jacob Abrahamsz. Dissius was baptised on 23 November 1653 in Delft as the son of Maria Cloeting and the printer Abraham Dissius. He married Magdalena Pieters van Ruijven, born in 1655, Dissius' father-in-law was one of the wealthier citizens of Delft. He was master of the Camer van Charitate (municipal charitable department). His fortune was made through wise investments of the riches he and his wife inherited.

Dissius acquired some distinction from his grandfather and namesake, the pastor of a Protestant church in Het Wout, Jacob Dissius. Dissius, a bookbinder, registered at the Guild of Saint Luke in 1676. Four years later, after he was married, he registered as a bookseller. He lived and worked at the "Golden ABC" (Het Gulden ABC) print shop on the of Delft that was owned by his father.

Magdalena's father and mother died in 1674 and 1681. Magdalena inherited the Vermeer art collection, The inventory of 1683 stated the number of paintings for each applicable room, totaling 20 Vermeer works of art. The Frick Collection states, "According to this document, there were eleven Vermeers in the front room of Dissius's house on Delft's Markt (or "Market"); four in the back room; one in the kitchen, which apparently also served as a bedroom; two in a basement room; and two elsewhere in the residence. The subjects of the paintings in the Dissius home are not specified in the 1683 inventory."

Art collection Three documents are crucial in reconstructing the art collection of Jacob Dissius: the inventory of his estate in April 1683, after the death of his parents-in-law and his wife; a document listing the division of this inheritance between Jacob and his father Abraham Dissius, which was united in Jacob's possession after the death of his father in 1694; and the list of the auction of his collection after his death in October 1695.

Jan Vermeer From the cited sources, the paintings in de Knuijt's collection were:

A Girl Asleep c. 1657 Officer and Laughing Girl c. 1657 The Milkmaid c. 1657–1658 The Little Street c. 1657–1658 Girl Interrupted at Her Music c. 1658–1659 The Girl with the Wine Glass c. 1659–1660 View of Delft ca. 1659–1661 Woman Holding a Balance c. 1662–1664 The Music Lesson, or A Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman c. 1662–1665 Woman with a Pearl Necklace c. 1664 Girl with a Pearl Earring c. 1665 A Lady Writing a Letter c. 1665 Girl with a Red Hat c. 1665–1666 Study of a Young Woman c. 1665–1667 Mistress and Maid c. 1667 The Astronomer c. 1668 Girl with a Red Hat c. 1669 The Lacemaker c. 1669–1670 A Young Woman Seated at the Virginals c. 1670–1672 The Guitar Player 1672

Potentially made by another artist: Girl with a Flute — The National Gallery of Art states that Young Girl with a Flute, which has been historically identified as one of Vermeer's works, seems as if it could have been made by someone else due to irregularities in artistic quality.

Others A seascape by Jan Porcellis Four landscapes by Simon de Vlieger The Tomb of the Old Prince, The Old Church in Amsterdam, and another church by Emanuel de Witte A tronie by Rembrandt A portrait of Erasmus