Dirck van Os as an ensign in 1583. This portrait by Cornelis de Visscher is in the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar.¹

Dirck van Os (Antwerp, 1556 – Amsterdam, 1615) was an Amsterdam merchant, insurer, and financier, originally from Brabant.² He is among the founders of the Compagnie van Verre, the United East India Company (VOC),  the Amsterdam Exchange Bank and the main investor in the Beemster.^[1]

Van Os seems to have been born to a trader in pigments and tapestries, originally from ‘s-Hertogenbosch, who had moved to Antwerp around 1550.^[2][3] Not much is known about his baptism or his parents.

Dirck served as captain of militia in the Fall of Antwerp, wherein the city surrendered to the Duke of Parma in 1585. After this point he moved to Middelburg. In January 1588, Van Os married Margretha van der Piet.^[4] He and his brother Hendrick (1555-1623) traded in grain and salt, primarily on Spain and ports on the Baltic Sea.^[5] Van Os cooperated together with Isaac le Maire on Danzig. In 1595, they organized an expedition to get salt in Setúbal and ship it to Archangelsk.

In March 1602 he was one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company, and served as one of the first directors. (The shares were sold at his house in the Nes; likely they rented part of Maria Margaretha monastery, now Brakke Grond.³ The brothers hired a bookkeeper Anthonie van Breen who moved in.) With 47,000 guilders, they were the largest investors.^[6] This number grew to 120,000 by 1609.^[7] The oldest stock share in the world, dated 27 September 1606, was  signed by him.^[8][9]

In 1607 he was involved in reclaiming the Beemster (7200 ha). He cooperated with Leeghwater, an expert in wind mills. This polder inundated in January 1610 after four days of storm.⁵ The second attempt was more successful.⁶ Immediately after the reclamation, Van Os had rapeseed sown, very suitable as a first crop after poldering because rapeseed is not sensitive to the still salty soil and because it rises early and therefore suppresses weeds. With the proceeds, all the oil mills in the Zaanstreek could operate for a year.⁷

The company, a partnership, had an account at the Wisselbank from the beginning. In 1609 they were involved in the expedition of Henry Hudson to find an alternative route to the East and reached Manhattan. The Van Os, including his son in law Van der Straeten, acquired 46 plots, more than one-seventh of the land in Beemster.⁸ In the Purmer they again lost a lot of money.^9[10]

He was buried at Nieuwezijds Kapel in 1615 but a record does not exist. In 1666 his granddaughter Geertruijd van Os was buried in this grave. In 1658 she married Coenraad Pestalozzi from Zürich, living at Keizersgracht.

His brother Hendrick is known as an trader in diamonds, an art lover and collectioneur.¹⁰

Family

• Dirck van Os II (Amsterdam, 26 August 1590–Middenbeemster, 16 January 1668),¹⁴ served from 1618–1666 as the dijkgraaf of Beemster, and was the subject of a portrait currently owned by Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.^[12] He married Helena van Oerel from Neurenberg.

References