Nicolaas Beets

Nicolas Beets
Born	September 13, 1814(1814-09-13) Haarlem, the Netherlands
Died	March 13, 1903(1903-03-13) (aged 88) Utrecht, the Netherlands
Pen name	Hildebrand
Occupation	Protestant minister
Nationality	Netherlands
Subjects	Short autobiographical stories
Notable work(s)	Camera Obscura
Influences Jacob van Lennep, Byron

For other things named "Hildebrand", Hildebrand (disambiguation)

Nicolaas Beets (13 September 1814 – 13 March 1903) was a Dutch theologian, writer and poet. He published under the pseudonym, Hildebrand.

Nicolaas Beets was born in Haarlem, the son of a pharmacist. From 1833 till 1839 he studied theology at the university of Leiden where he received his doctorate.

In 1840 he became a minister at the Dutch Reformed Church in Heemstede. In the same year he married Aleida van Foreest. In 1854 he moved to Utrecht where from 1874 till 1884 he was a professor in church history at the University of Utrecht.

He wrote prose, poetry and sermons. As a poet, Beets came under the influence of Byronism.

His most famous work is Camera Obscura, which he wrote under the pseudonym Hildebrand during his student years. The first version appeared in 1839. In later years he kept adding stories to the work. Therefore, only in 1851, the final version was finished.

Beets died at the age of 88 in Utrecht of a brain haemorrhage.

Hildebrand Monument in Haarlemmerhout, Haarlem, with characters from the Camera Obscura.

External links

• Works by Nicolaas Beets at Project Gutenberg

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

Persondata
Name	Beets, Nicolaas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	13 September 1814
Place of birth	Haarlem, the Netherlands
Date of death	13 March 1903
Place of death	Utrecht, the Netherlands