Background
He is most notable as an art collector and for his links to Johannes Vermeer - his collection included 21 Vermeer works (including The Milkmaid, Portrait of a Young Woman, A Girl Asleep, Woman Holding a Balance and The Music Lesson) and in 1680 he married Madgdalene, daughter and sole heir of Vermeer"s main patron Pieter van Ruijven. Jacob Dissius was baptised on 23 November 1653 as the son of the printer Abraham Dissius. He married Magdalena Pieters van Ruijven, daughter of Pieter van Ruijven, born in 1655.
Career
Dissius (November 1653 - October 1695) was a Dutch typographer and printer. Dissius died in 1695 and his collection was auctioned off in Amsterdam the following year. Dissius" father-in-law was one of the wealthier citizens of Delft, and became a patron of Vermeer.
When she died childless in 1682, he inherited her collection of Vermeer paintings and other works of art
He was the owner of the "Golden American Broadcasting Company" ("Het Gulden American Broadcasting Company"), a print shop on the Market Square of Delft. Jacob Dissius died in October 1695 (he was buried on 14 October), and his art collection was sold on 16 May 1696 by art dealer Gerard Houet in Amsterdam.
January Vermeer
Of the 21 paintings by Vermeer in the Dissius aucton of 1696, 15 are usually matched to currently known paintings, while 6 others are either lost or unidentified. = Identified works A Girl Asleep
Officer and Laughing Girl
The Little Street
Woman Holding a Balance
The Milkmaid
View of Delft
The Lacemaker
Woman with a Pearl Necklace
A Lady Writing a Letter
Lady Standing at a Virginal or Lady Seated at a Virginal (the other was owned at the same time by Diego Duarte)
The Girl with the Wine Glass
Girl Interrupted at her Music or The Concert
The Guitar Player
Mistress and Maid or *Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window
The Music Lesson
= Vermeer paintings now considered lost or unidentified Portrait of Vermeer with Various Accessories (sometimes thought to be The Art of Painting (Vermeer))
Seigneur Washing his Hands
A View of a House Standing in Delft
A Tronie in Antique Dress (sometimes thought to be Girl with a Red Hat) and two other tronies (perhaps Portrait of a Young Woman (Vermeer, New York) and Girl with a Pearl Earring)
Others
A seascape by January Porcellis
Four landscapes by Simon de Vlieger
Three church paintings by Emanuel de Witte
A tronie by Rembrandt
A portrait of Erasmus.