An unusual subject for the artist, who is known for his landscapes with horses and riders, the painting is supposed to have been painted as a gift for a Catholic priest of Haarlem, Cornelis Catsz. It shows a scene from the life of St Hubert (d.727), who as a young man leading a dissolute life, was converted by the apparition of a speaking crucifix between the antlers of a stag at bay: "Why are you pursuing me? I am Jesus, whom you honour without being aware of it". He is said to have sought advice from St Lambert and subsequently became Bishop of Tongeren/Maastricht himself, transferring later to Liège. He is now a patron saint of hunting and his relics lie in an abbey, named after him, in the forests of Ardennes. The legend is taken from that of St Eustace in the 15th century and the depiction of the hounds are borrowed from Dürer's famous engraving of the Latin saint, as well as, possibly, the vertical format.