Nicolaas Beets
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Hij leefde rond 1835 in een bevolkingslaag, die toevallig juist stagneerde: de gegoede Haarlemse middenstand. Er gebeurde daar vrijwel niets, het water stond bijna stil. Maar in plaats van, zoals zijn tijdgenoten Van Lennep, Oltmans, Hofdijk en Truitje Toussaint in de illusie van de middeleeuwen te vluchten of, zoals Potgieter, het in de Gouden Eeuw te zoeken, boog hij zich over de sloot van Haarlem en begon te kijken, wat daar leefde. Veel zag hij niet. Maar het weinige, wat hij zag, zag hij scherp. En dan: Beets had de gave der ironie. Door een fijne humor wist hij de totale onbeduidendheid van wat hij in Haarlem vond toch nog vorm te geven."--Bomans |
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Nicolaas Beets (1814 – 1903) was a Dutch writer, theologian 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 his pseudonym during his student years. Though it was first published in 1839, he added stories in later editions, so the final version was not published until 1851.
Beets died of a brain haemorrhage at age 88, in Utrecht.
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