Hermann Huddaeus

Huddaeus, here depicted at the age of fifty, was a Protestant minister and superintendent in Minden, Westphalia. He was known even beyond that region as a scholar and was also esteemed by Melanchthon. The saying on the parapet refers to his ability to proclaim the word of the Gospel and at the same time contains the date 1568 as a chronogram. The running hourglass and the skull are reminders of the transience of everything earthly and, as the words on the papers announce, of the preacher’s own awareness of his nearing end. The background is filled with a broad landscape including the Porta Westfalica (Westphalian gate) and a view of Minden, to which the painter has added many charming details such as a leaping hare, shepherds, travelers, and sailboats on the Weser River.