The Spanish Golden Age (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro) was a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political decline and fall of the Habsburgs (Philip III, Philip IV and Charles II). This term does not generally imply any great precision about dates, but it begins no earlier than 1492, with the completion of the reconquista and the voyages of Christopher Columbus to the New World, and politically ends no later than the Treaty of the Pyrenees between France and Habsburg Spain in 1659. The last great writer of the period, Pedro Calderon de la Barca, died in 1681 and his death is usually considered as the end of the Spanish Golden Century in the arts and literature. The siglo de oro (a Spanish-language phrase meaning century of gold or golden century) is a term that refers to one of the following: The great age of Spanish wealth and power, roughly from the early-to-mid-16th century to early-to-mid-17th century. ... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... Philip III of Spain Philip III (Spanish: Felipe III) (April 14, 1578 – March 31, 1621) was the king of Spain and Portugal (as Philip II Portuguese: Filipe II), from 1598 until his death. ... Philip IV (), (April 8, 1605 – September 17, 1665) was King of Spain from 1621 to 1665 and also King of Portugal until 1640. ... Charles II of Spain. ... Not to be confused with 1492: Conquest of Paradise. ... Conquista redirects here. ... Christopher Columbus (1451 – May 20, 1506) was a navigator and maritime explorer credited as the discoverer of the Americas. ... Frontispiece of Peter Martyr dAnghieras De orbe novo (On the New World). Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, 1722. ... The Treaty of the Pyrenees was a treaty signed in 1659 to end the war between France and Spain that had begun in 1635 during the Thirty Years War. ... During the reign of Emperor Charles V (Carlos I of Spain), who ascended the thrones of the kingdoms of Spain after the death of his grandfather Ferdinand, Habsburg Spain controlled territory ranging from Philippines to the Netherlands, and was, for a time, Europes greatest power. ... // Events May 25 - Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth. ... Pedro Calderón de la Barca (January 17, 1600 - May 25, 1681), Spanish dramatist and poet, was born at Madrid. ... Events March 4 - Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania. ...

The Habsburgs, both in Spain and Austria, were great patrons of art in their countries. El Escorial, the great royal monastery built by King Philip II of Spain, invited the attention of some of Europe's greatest architects and painters. Diego Velázquez, regarded as one of the most influential painters of European history and a greatly respected artist in his own time, cultivated a relationship with King Philip IV and his chief minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, leaving us several portraits that demonstrate his style and skill. El Greco, another respected artist from the period, infused Spanish art with the styles of the Italian renaissance and helped create a uniquely Spanish style of painting. Some of Spain's greatest music is regarded as having been written in the period. Such composers as Tomás Luis de Victoria, Luis de Milán and Alonso Lobo helped to shape Renaissance music and the styles of counterpoint and polychoral music, and their influence lasted far into the Baroque period. Spanish literature blossomed as well, most famously demonstrated in the work of Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote de la Mancha. Spain's most prolific playwright, Lope de Vega, wrote possibly as many as one thousand plays during his lifetime, of which over four hundred survive to the present day. Habsburg (sometimes spelled Hapsburg, but never so in official use) was one of the major ruling houses of Europe. ... // El Escorial, Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real (also known as Monasterio de El Escorial or simply, El Escorial) was since the last quarter of the 16th century the Eighth Wonder of the World. ... Philip II (Spanish: Felipe II de Habsburgo; Portuguese: Filipe I) (May 21, 1527 – September 13, 1598) was the first official King of Spain from 1556 until 1598, King of Naples and Sicily from 1554 until 1598, King of England (as King-consort of Mary I) from 1554 to 1558, King... Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. ... Gaspar de Guzman, conde de Olivares y duque de San Lucar (January 6, 1587 - July 22, 1645), was a Spanish royal favourite and minister. ... El Greco (The Greek, 1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. ... Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – August 20, 1611) was a gifted Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. ... Luis de Milán (c. ... Alonso Lobo (c. ... Renaissance music is European classical music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 to 1600. ... In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm, and interdependent in harmony. ... This article is about the musical term. ... Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750 (see Dates of classical music eras for a discussion of the problems inherent in defining the beginning and end points). ... Don Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (IPA: in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... Lope de Vega Lope de Vega (also Félix Lope de Vega Carpio or Lope Félix de Vega Carpio) (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet. ...

Mater Dolorosa by sixteenth-century Spanish painter Luis de Morales

Mater Dolorosa by Spanish artist Luis de Morales This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Mater Dolorosa by Spanish artist Luis de Morales This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Luis de Morales (1510? - 1586) was a Spanish religious painter born in Badajoz, Estremadura. ...

Painting

 in the time of the Italian RenaissanceSpain,, had seen few great artists come to its shores. The Italian holdings and relationships made by Queen Isabella's husband and later Spain's sole monarch, Ferdinand of Aragon, launched a steady traffic of intellectuals across the Mediterranean between Valencia, Seville, and Florence. Luis de Morales, one of the leading exponents of Spanish mannerist painting, retained a distinctly Spanish style in his work, reminiscent of medieval art. Spanish art, particularly that of Morales, contained a strong mark of mysticism and religion that was encouraged by the counter-reformation and the patronage of Spain's strongly Catholic monarchs and aristocracy. 

Toledo by El Greco

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe. ... Ferdinand of Aragon can refer to two different kings of Aragon: Ferdinand I of Aragon, a. ... Location Coordinates : 39°29′ N 0°22′ W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name València (Catalan) Spanish name Valencia Founded 137 BC Postal code 46000-46080 Website http://www. ... NO8DO (I was not abandoned) Location Coordinates : ( ) Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Sevilla (Spanish) Spanish name Sevilla Founded 8th-9th century BC Postal code 41001-41080 Website http://www. ... Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ... Luis de Morales (1510? - 1586) was a Spanish religious painter born in Badajoz, Estremadura. ... Mannerism is the usual English term for an approach to all the arts, particularly painting but not exclusive to it, a reaction to the High Renaissance, emerging after the Sack of Rome in 1527 shook Renaissance confidence, humanism and rationality to their foundations, and even Religion had split apart. ... The Counter-Reformation or the Catholic Reformation was a strong reaffirmation of the doctrine and structure of the Catholic Church, climaxing at the Council of Trent, partly in reaction to the growth of Protestantism. ... Landscape of the city of Toledo painted by Spanish artist El Greco. ... Landscape of the city of Toledo painted by Spanish artist El Greco. ... El Greco (The Greek, 1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. ...

El Greco

Widely regarded as having the greatest impact in bringing the Italian Renaissance to Spain, El Greco, as his name implies, was not Spanish at all, but was born Domenikos Theotokopoulos in Crete. He studied the great Italian masters of his time - Titian, Tintoretto, and Michaelangelo - when he lived in Italy from 1568 to 1577. According to legend[1], after asserting that he would paint a mural as good as one of Michaelangelo's if they demolished one of the Italian artist's, El Greco quickly fell out of favor in Italy, and soon found a new home in the city of Toledo in southern Spain. He was influential in creating a style based on impressions and emotion, with elongated fingers and vibrant color and brushwork. His paintings of the city of Toledo became models for a new European tradition in landscapes, influencing the work of the later Dutch masters. El Greco (The Greek, 1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. ... For the famous World War II battle, see: Battle of Crete For other uses, see Crete (disambiguation). ... Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. ... Tintoretto (real name Jacopo Comin) September 29, 1518 - May 31, 1594) was one of the greatest painters of the Venetian school and probably the last great painter of the Italian Renaissance. ... Michelangelo (full name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) (March 6, 1475 - February 18, 1564) was a Renaissance sculptor, architect, painter, and poet. ... Events March 23 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France. ... Events March 17 - formation of the Cathay Company to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold May 28 - Publication of the Bergen Book, better known as the Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord, one of the Lutheran confessional writings. ... Michelangelo (full name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni) (March 6, 1475 - February 18, 1564) was a Renaissance sculptor, architect, painter, and poet. ... Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, about 70 kilometers south of Madrid. ...

Villa Medici a Roma, a landscape by Diego Velázquez

Villa Medici a Roma, painted by Spanish artist Diego Velazquez. ... Villa Medici a Roma, painted by Spanish artist Diego Velazquez. ... Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. ...

Diego Velázquez

Born in 1599, two generations after El Greco, Diego Velázquez is widely regarded as one of Spain's most important and influential artists. He was a court painter for King Philip IV and found increasingly high demand for his portraits from statesmen, aristocrats, and clergymen across Europe. His portraits of the King, his chief minister, the Count-duke of Olivares, and the Pope himself demonstrated a belief in artistic realism and a style comparable to many of the Dutch masters. In the wake of the Thirty Years' War, Velázquez met the Marqués de Spinola and later his famous Surrender of Breda celebrating Spinola's earlier victory. Spinola was struck^{[citation needed]} by his ability to express emotion through realism in both his portraits and landscapes; his work in the latter, in which he launched one of European art's first experiments in outdoor lighting, became another lasting influence on Western painting. Velázquez's friendship with Bartolome Esteban Murillo, a leading Spanish painter of the next generation, ensured the enduring influence of his artistic approach. Year 1599 was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. ... Philip IV (), (April 8, 1605 – September 17, 1665) was King of Spain from 1621 to 1665 and also King of Portugal until 1640. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Ambrosio Spinola Doria, marqués de los Balbases (1569 - September 25, 1630), Spanish general, was born in Genoa. ... Combatants United Provinces Spain Commanders Maurice of Nassau Ernst von Mansfeld Ambrosio Spinola Strength 14,000 Unknown Casualties 10,000 dead, wounded, or captured Unknown {{{notes}}} The Siege of Breda was a battle of the Eighty Years War and Thirty Years War. ... Murillo Bartolom Est ban Murillo (January 1, 1618 - April 3, 1682) was a Spanish painter from Seville. ...

Saint Francis of Assisi in his tomb, by Francisco de Zurbaran

, by Francisco de Zurbaran. ... , by Francisco de Zurbaran. ... Francisco Zurbarán (1598-1664), was a Spanish painter, born at Fuente de Cantos in Estremadura on the November 7, 1598. ...

Francisco de Zurbarán

The religious element in Spanish art, in many circles, grew in importance with the counter-reformation. The austere, ascetic, and severe work of Francisco de Zurbarán exemplified this thread in Spanish art, along with the work of composer Tomás Luis de Victoria. Philip IV actively patronized artists who agreed with his views on the counter-reformation and religion. The mysticism of Zurbarán's work - influenced by Saint Theresa of Avila - became a hallmark of Spanish art in later generations. Influenced by Caravaggio and the Italian masters, Zurbarán devoted himself to an artistic expression of religion and faith. His paintings of St. Francis of Assisi, the immaculate conception, and the crucifixion of Christ reflected a third facet of Spanish culture in the seventeenth century, against the backdrop of religious pie war across Europe. Zurbarán broke from Velázquez's sharp realist interpretation of art and looked, to some extent, to the emotive content of El Greco and the earlier mannerist painters for inspiration and technique, though Zurbarán respected and maintained the lighting and physical nuance of Velázquez. Francisco Zurbarán (November 7, 1598 – August 27, 1664), was a Spanish painter, born at Fuente de Cantos in Extremadura. ... Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – August 20, 1611) was a gifted Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. ... ... Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610) was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. ... Saint Francis of Assisi (born in Assisi, Italy, ca. ... Mary, mother of Jesus as the Immaculate Conception. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Christ is the English of the Greek word (Christós), which literally means The Anointed One. ... El Greco (The Greek, 1541 – April 7, 1614) was a painter, sculptor, and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. ...

Other significant painters

• Luis de Morales
• Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
• José de Ribera

Contemporary printing of the sheet music for ass lickingTomás Luis de Victoria's Officium Defunctorum.

Luis de Morales (1510? - 1586) was a Spanish religious painter born in Badajoz, Estremadura. ... Murillo Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (January 1, 1618 - April 3, 1682) was a Spanish painter from Seville. ... Giuseppe Ribera (January 12, 1591 - 1652), commonly called Lo Spagnoletto, or the Little Spaniard, a leading painter of the Neapolitan or partly of the Spanish school, was born near Valencia in Spain, at Xátiva, now named San Felipe. ... Contemporary printing of the sheet music for Tomás Luis de Victorias Officium Defunctorum. ... Contemporary printing of the sheet music for Tomás Luis de Victorias Officium Defunctorum. ... Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – August 20, 1611) was a gifted Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. ... Contemporary printing of the sheet music for Victorias Officium Defunctorum is a musical setting of the Office of the Dead composed by the Spanish Renaissance composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria in 1603. ...

Music

Tomás Luis de Victoria

Tomás Luis de Victoria, a Spanish composer of the sixteenth century, mainly of choral music, is widely regarded as one of the greatest Spanish classical composers. He joined the cause of Ignatius of Loyola in the fight against the Reformation and in 1575 became a priest. He lived for a short time in Italy, where he became acquainted with the polyphonic work of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Like Zurbaran, Victoria mixed the technical qualities of Italian art with the religion and culture of his native Spain. He invigorated his work with emotional appeal and experimental, mystical rhythm and choruses. He broke from the dominant tendency among his contemporaries by avoiding complex counterpoint, preferring longer, simpler, less technical and more mysterious melodies, employing dissonance in ways that the Italian members of the Roman School shunned. He demonstrated considerable invention in musical thought by connecting the tone and emotion of his music to those of his lyrics, particularly in his motets. Like Velázquez, Victoria was employed by the monarch - in Victoria's case, in the service of the queen. The requiem he wrote upon her death in 1603 is regarded as one of his most enduring and mature works. Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – August 20, 1611) was a gifted Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. ... Saint Ignatius of Loyola, also known as Ignacio (Iñigo) López de Loyola (December 24, 1491 – July 31, 1556), was the principal founder and first Superior General of the Society of Jesus, a religious order of the Catholic Church professing direct service to the Pope in terms of mission. ... The Protestant Reformation was a movement which began in the 16th century as a series of attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church, but ended in division and the establishment of new institutions, most importantly Lutheranism, Reformed churches, and Anabaptists. ... Year 1575 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ... Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (4 March 1525 - 2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of Renaissance music. ... In music, a consonance (Latin consonare, sounding together) is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance, which is considered unstable. ... The Roman school is the education system of the Ancient Rome. ... In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. ... The Requiem (from the Latin requiés, rest) or Requiem Mass, also known formally (in Latin) as the Missa pro defunctis or Missa defunctorum, is a liturgical service of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Anglican High Church and certain Lutheran Churches in the United States. ... Year 1603 (MDCIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Painting of Don Quixote by the 19th century French artist Honoré Daumier

Painting of Don Quixote by French artist Honoré-Victorin Daumier This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Painting of Don Quixote by French artist Honoré-Victorin Daumier This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... (IPA: , but see spelling and pronunciation below), fully titled (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is an early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ... Honoré Daumier (portrait by Nadar). ...

Alonso ass Lobo

Victoria's work was complemented by Alonso Lobo - a man Victoria respected as his equal. Lobo's work - also choral and religious in its content - stressed the austere, minimalist nature of religious music. Lobo sought out a medium between the emotional intensity of Victoria and the technical ability of Palestrina; the solution he found became the foundation of the baroque musical style in Spain. Alonso Lobo (c. ... Palestrina (ancient Praeneste) was and is a very ancient city of Latium (modern Lazio) 23 miles (37 km) east of Rome, and was reached by the Via Praenestina (see below). ...

Spanish guitar

The first known collection of Spanish guitar music was composed by Luis de Milán in 1536. Serving the ducal court of Valencia, Luis de Milán all but defined Spanish guitar music, which up to that point had been confined to the countryside rather than to the court. Spanish guitar - which had always been an important part of Spanish culture - began to experience a revival with Luis de Milán's work among Spanish aristocrats and merchants who popularized the style throughout Europe. Spanish guitar music (as shaped by Luis de Milán) would be revived again in the nineteenth century, and would retain a strong following to the present day. classical guitar A classical guitar, also called a Spanish guitar, is a musical instrument from the guitar family. ... Luis de Milán (c. ... Year 1536 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. ... Location Coordinates : 39°29′ N 0°22′ W Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name València (Catalan) Spanish name Valencia Founded 137 BC Postal code 46000-46080 Website http://www. ...

Literature

The Spanish Golden Age was a time of great flourishing in poety, prose and drama.

Góngora

The most prominent figure in Golden Age poetry was Luis de Góngora. Two of his works, Soledades and the Polifemo, are landmarks of a poetic movement known as culteranismo. Much of his poetry exhibits an extravagant elaboration of style (estilo culto) that came to be known as Gongorismo. While he was criticised for affected Latinisms, unnatural transpositions, strained metaphors and frequent obscurity, he was a man of rare genius^{[neutrality disputed]}, who expanded the Spanish lexicon and boldly explored the boundaries of the metaphor and of Spanish syntax. It was only in the hands of those who imitated Góngora's style without inheriting his genius that culteranismo became absurd.^{[neutrality disputed]} Góngora sustained a long poetic and personal feud with his satirical rival, Francisco de Quevedo; probably the only Spanish poet of his time that matched him in talent and inventiveness.^{[citation needed]} Luis de Góngora, in a portrait by Diego Velázquez. ... Culteranismo is a stylistic movement of the Baroque period of Spanish history that is also commonly referred to as Gongorismo (after Luis de Góngora). ... A Latinism is a word borrowed from Latin into another language, such as English. ... In language, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope where a comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated subjects. ... Look up lexicon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ... Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Villegas (September 17, 1580 – September 8, 1645) was a Spanish writer during the . ...

Luis de Góngora, in a portrait by Diego Velázquez.

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2547, 371 KB) Description: Title: de: Porträt des Dichters Luis de Góngora y Argote Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 50,3 × 40,5 cm Country of origin: de: Spanien Current location (city): de: Boston Current location (gallery... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2024x2547, 371 KB) Description: Title: de: Porträt des Dichters Luis de Góngora y Argote Technique: de: Öl auf Leinwand Dimensions: de: 50,3 × 40,5 cm Country of origin: de: Spanien Current location (city): de: Boston Current location (gallery... Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (June 6, 1599 – August 6, 1660), commonly referred to as Diego Velázquez, was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. ...

Cervantes and Don Quixote

Regarded by many as one of the finest works in the Spanish language, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes was one of the first novels published in Europe; it gave Cervantes a stature in the Spanish-speaking world comparable to his contemporary William Shakespeare in English. The novel, like Spain itself, was caught between the Middle Ages and the modern world. A veteran of the Battle of Lepanto (1571), Cervantes had fallen on hard times in the late 1590s and was imprisoned for debt in 1597, when he began^{[citation needed]} work on his best-remembered novel. The final installment was published in 1615, a year before the author's death. Don Quixote resembled both the medieval, chivalric romances of an earlier time and the novels of the early modern world. It parodied classical morality and chivalry, found comedy in knighthood, and criticized social structures and the perceived madness of Spain's rigid society. The work has endured to the present day as a landmark in world literary history, and it was an immediate international hit in its own time, interpreted variously as a satirical comedy, social commentary and forbearer of self-referential literature. Statues of Don Quixote (left) and Sancho Panza (right) Don Quixote de la Mancha (pronounced /don kixote ðe la mantʃa/) is a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. ... Don Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra (IPA: in modern Spanish; September 29, 1547 – April 23, 1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Three battles have been known as the Battle of Lepanto: Battle of Lepanto (1499) during the Turkish-Venetian Wars Battle of Lepanto (1500) during the Turkish-Venetian Wars Battle of Lepanto (1571) defeat of the Turkish fleet An earlier battle near modern Lepanto was called the Battle of Naupactus (429...

Title page of a comedy by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega

Download high resolution version (567x781, 89 KB)Title page from a comedy by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Download high resolution version (567x781, 89 KB)Title page from a comedy by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired in the United States and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years. ... Lope de Vega Lope de Vega (also Félix Lope de Vega Carpio or Lope Félix de Vega Carpio) (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet. ...

Lope de Vega and Spanish drama

A contemporary of Cervantes, Lope de Vega consolidated the essential genres and structures which would characterize the Spanish commercial drama, also known as the "Comedia", throughout the 17th century. While Lope de Vega wrote prose and poetry as well, he is best remembered for his plays, particularly those grounded in Spanish history. Like Cervantes, Lope de Vega served with the Spanish army and was fascinated with the Spanish nobility. In the hundreds of plays he wrote, with settings ranging from the Biblical times to legendary Spanish history to classical mythology to his own time, Lope de Vega frequently took a comical approach just as Cervantes did, taking a conventional moral play and dressing it up in good humor and cynicism. His stated goal was to entertain the public, much as Cervantes's was. In bringing morality, comedy, drama, and popular wit together, Lope de Vega is often compared to his English contemporary Shakespeare. Some have argued that as a social critic, Lope de Vega attacked, like Cervantes, many of the ancient institutions of his country - aristocracy, chivalry, and rigid morality, among others. The Lope de Vega and Cervantes represented an alternative artistic perspective to the religious asceticism of Francisco Zurbarán. Lope de Vega's "cloak-and-sword" plays, which mingled intrigue, romance, and comedy together were carried on by his literary successor, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in the later seventeenth century. Other well-known playwrights of the period include: Tirso de Molina; Agustín Moreto; Juan Pérez de Montalbán; Juan Ruiz de Alarcón; Guillén de Castro and Antonio Mira de Amescua. Lope de Vega Lope de Vega (also Félix Lope de Vega Carpio or Lope Félix de Vega Carpio) (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet. ... Pedro Calderon de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca (January 17, 1600 – May 25, 1681), was an important dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age. ... Tirso de Molina (October, 1571 - March 12, 1648) was a Spanish dramatist and poet. ... Wikisource (Spanish) has original text related to this article: Agustín Moreto Agustín Moreto y Cabaña (1618 – October 28, 1669) was a dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age. ... Juan Pérez de Montalbán (1602 - June 25, 1638), Spanish dramatist, poet and novelist, was born at Madrid. ... Juan Ruiz de Alarcón y Mendoza (1581? - August 4, 1639), was a Mexican dramatist. ... Guillén de Castro (1569–1631) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age. ... Antonio Mira de Amescua (1578? - 1636 ?), Spanish dramatist, was born at Guadix (Granada) about 1578. ...

Other significant authors

The picaresque genre flourished in this era , describing the life of pícaros, living by their wits in a decadent society. The picaresque novel (Spanish: picaresco, from pícaro, for rogue or rascal) is a popular style of novel that originated in Spain and flourished in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries and has continued to influence modern literature. ...

• Alonso de Ercilla wrote the epic poem, La Araucana, about the Spanish conquest of Chile.
• Gil Vicente was Portuguese but his influence on Spanish playwriting was so wide that he is often considered part of the Spanish Golden Era.

Alonso de Ercilla (1533 - 1594) was a Basque nobleman from Spain, and author of epic poem La Araucana. ... La Araucana is an epic poem in Spanish about the Spanish conquest of Chile, by Alonso de Ercilla; it is also known in English as The Araucaniad. ... Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Americas of Christopher Columbus in 1492. ... Gil Vicente (c. ...

See also

• History of Spain
• Spanish Empire
• Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain (during the earlier Islamic domination)
• Spanish Renaissance