Hildebrand

Born in Haarlem on September 13, 1814, Nicolaas Beets was a Dutch writer, poet, theologian, and later a professor. He published literary work under the pseudonym Hildebrand, the name by which many readers still know him best.

Beets is especially remembered for Camera Obscura, a collection of witty, closely observed prose pieces first associated with his early literary career. Alongside his writing, he served as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church and went on to become a professor at Utrecht, combining a long religious and academic life with his work as an author.

He died in Utrecht on March 13, 1903. Today he is remembered as a major Dutch man of letters whose humor, eye for character, and feel for ordinary life helped make his work endure.