Is it correct to start a new sentence with a lower case ‘de’, if the name of the person is, for instance, Hortence de Bruin? For example:

‘...until the late 1990’s. de Bruin, who wrote such and such...’

OR

‘...until the late 1990’s. De Bruin, who wrote such and such...’

Obviously this place is packed to the rafters with bells who enjoy handing out grammarslams, so now is the chance to focus this awful part of your personality on the side of good (which depends on me finding this out in the next 8 minutes)