Episodes from the life of Saint Hubert of Lüttich

Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen painted these Episodes from the Life of Saint Hubert around 1523, depicting the Flemish nobleman who became the patron saint of hunters after his miraculous conversion while hunting—the vision of a stag with a cross between its antlers. Hubert's Flemish origin made his cult particularly strong in the Low Countries, and his conversion narrative—which took place in the Ardennes—had strong appeal to the hunting culture of the Low Countries nobility that Jacob Cornelisz served. His narrative scenes combine the precise Flemish technique with the decorative landscape backgrounds characteristic of his Amsterdam workshop, the forest settings suitable to both the saint's conversion story and the northern European landscape tradition. The cycle demonstrates his versatility in treating hagiographic narrative with the same quality he brought to devotional and portrait commissions.

The panels show Jacob Cornelisz's skilled narrative technique with detailed landscape settings and the warm palette that characterizes his religious narrative compositions.