Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/394

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36S


aacnd proM and vecae, After tha pUn of the ' Arcadia.' " Hie laatrnaxaed ia ilia partleular contribution to the output of peatoral ronumcea, which bad begun in Spun with the "Diana" of Hontemayor, and had been oairiad on by Cervantes in his " Guatea". Like all the poataral nunanccd, tho "Arcadia" of Lope barks back eventuaUy to the " Arcadia " of the Neapol- itan Sannauaro, which cetabliuhcd the faahion of com- bining prose and verse. The paatonil lovos celebrated in the works of this category are conventional: tho riiepherda and shepherdeaees are gentlemen and ladiee of Uihioa masqucradinK- The whole genre ia very •rtifidal, and Lom'h work ie certainly so. The " Pas- tana de Belfo" nas in it the beautiful Iidlaby to the Infant JemiB,"Puesandai3 en Ian palni&s"; the whole work waa dedicated to his son CotIoh, who soon died. Of Lope's otber ctmipOHitionB, bctiidca Km plays, there nuyMn>en^)nedthe"Filomena" (ll)2n,the"Triun- fndivinos" (religious lyricsj, the "Corona tr^ica" (1627 — an epic in five cantos celeliratiiig llarv, Queen ofSoota), the" laurel deApolo" (16:iO~a rhymed re-

view aTid eulogy

of about three hundred poets, like Ccrvanten's


and partisan), EUid the " Riiuos de licenciado Tom 4 deBurguillos" (1634). The"Fi- lomena", the first of the works just mentioned, is in part Lope's poetic defence of hunsclf and his methods aKaiimt the at- tacks of a certain Torres Rjimila. The defence oc- cupies its second part; the first con-


wastoUowed ^ter by three others: " 1 A desdicha por la faonra", "La prudente venganza", and "Gusm^ el Bueno", all published in Ui2i, along with the poem "CSrco and Ulysses". Certain "Epfstoiaa" found in the "Fllomena" {rive information regarding Lope's ^e and woric, and also give utterance to an attack npon tiie school of Gongora.

Among the prose work.**, besides tho talcs already lilted, are the "Fercgrino en su patria" (1604), the "Triunfo de Ja fe en el Jap6n" (1618), and the " Doro- tea" (1632). The "Peregrino is a somewhat tedious imnanee C^ adventurous travel. It is interesting, however, for the lyrics and autus (religious plays) con- tained in it, and also for the list of over two hundred of his plays which the author indicates as already iMiFiMMwed The "Triunfo" deals with tho Xavcrian nuamonsin Japan, and is devout in tone. Thc"Doro- tea" is a diamatjc novel in form. Begun in I^ope's early yean, it was kept by him throughout his life, and receiTed final emliellishmcnts in his old age. It is nractieally an autobiography.

The real Lope of fame, however, is the dramatist, for it wae as dramatist that he dominated the whole Qolden Age (sixteenth and nevent^^enth centuries). Aoeoiding to his own account, he composed 1500 omMdMt, Le.,moi« than 5,000,000 ver^a of o.'t.sonance and rhyme in all the nstEve and the borrowed Italian im. Besides the comedias he nTOtc hundreds of looa (pndaguea, curtain-raisers), and entremttet


(interludes). Of the comeditu some MO remain, and they are mode the subject of treatment in the great

edition published under the auspices of the Spanish Academy by MenSndei y Pelayo, Among the con- venient groupings devised by this eminent scholar are these: pkys oa^ upon matters of the Old and the New Testament; plays on lives of the saints: plajrs dealing with legends or devout traditions; mythologi* cal plays; plays treating of classical history; playa treating of foreign history; plays dealing with the na- tional history; pastoral plays; chivalrous plays; ro- mantic plays; and plays of manners. No attempt ma>; licro 1>e made to gi^'e an idea of the nature and subject-matter of even the more striking among Lope's dramatic masterpieces. It may be said defin- itively that in uualities of style his dramas are defi- cient; they lack ttiu finish and the pvenness that only do- lilieration and slowlv matured execution can give to a work of art. Lope s theatre is mainly one of impro- visation. He wrote hoatily, Ui answer an imperious and never sated popular demand for something new. It is remarkable that bo remained ever inventive. His dramatic imagination was agift oF nature, and did not fail him no matter how much he abused it. In depth of thought he is all too often lacking; and with good sense he avoided philosophical themes, for he would have failed tn the treatment of them. Lope had the people at large in mind when he wrot«. Iliis is seen especially in nis plays of manners and intrigue {Corn*- diat de cava y eipada), which represent his best dra- matic achievement. The peculiarly Spanish puno- tilio, or Ppint of honour, receives full consideration in these. To the part of the clown he gives great promi- nence. But it is the wonuin that Leconies all impor- tant in Iadc's plays; as Fitimauricc-Kclly has said: " He placed her in her true setting, as an ideal, as the mainspring of dramatic motive and of cliivolrous con- duct. A^ leading examples of Lope's skill in the tragedy there may De mentioned " El Castigo sin Ven- gania (on the same subject as Byron's "Pariaina"), and "Pnrfiar hosta Morir"; in the historical drama, "I^ F^trella de Scvilla" and "El mejor Alcalde el ney";iii the use of the old Spanish heroic legend, "Ia fucrsa]a3timosa";andin the conietly of manners, "El Acero de Madrid", "Amar sin Saber & Quien", "I* Moza del Clnlaro", etc. TjOpe has had many unita-


rs. Those who imitated him ii


be recorded especially the Frenchmen Hardy a

Rotrou, and, in more recent times, the Austrian GrillpariKr,

CMmm, M, MENfiNnEl t PsuTO for tha AcsdemU Eapariola (Madriil. ISBO — ); CBnirdia4 fcoaidaa la Hitiliotrra rf* aiifarM oiudolM, XXIV, XXXIV, XU. LII, LVIII; Obnt iuUm (21 vob.. Mndrid, lT7fl-0i: mratno<Irtim4iia,tin BiMitI,- '-

aulorrt rtpni-oln. XXXVIII; Poitim ~ ' —

XXXVI, and LII; Tdiiiija and Pti LoptdeVrea: FeiieiP.' '- "


xvr, XXXV,


[ ^adl


Madrirl, I'ntg), SW;' ti>i


i Pastor, Pnem dt

raMmimlaiiFtlaiio,

. ,-._ Jthu (MadiM, IMl)—

Ptm Ptmtm niDBiiw on* of th* lisM anthoritii* on tba Ufa and worki of Lopr da Veen — HBm nr. TAr /,ifr of Lapt dt Vw (Gliuwov. London, vul PUIadclphis. 1901}; lutai. TU 3ft»- %ih Slaiir in llir Tlmf of fJi^t ii Vron <Th<) Hlnpniiio 8od*^, Nrw York. IfllO); Pinu*t:NiCE-KKi.t.v, LilUralm dpadwib (Parifi, 11IU4). npcdally 35U iiqq. and tha full bibliosnipliy oo pnsca 47S-8U.

J. D. M. Ford.


Juan de I^as Uoclaa, the painter of the great altai^ piece in tlw church of St. Isidore in Seville, of the "Martyrdom of St. Andrew" in the museum at Se- villi', and of the pictures in the university chapel. C^ his pupil we know exceedingly little, save that with in- different success he practised the art of painting in Seville until alxiut 1660, when he went to Madrid where he spent the remainder of his life, and died in 1662. His works were moinlp' portraits, some of which are in private collecttons lIiUwit^&,^-^