born Jan. 17, 1600, Madrid, Spain
died May 25, 1681, Madrid
Spanish playwright.
He abandoned religious studies in 1623 to write plays for the court of Philip IV of Spain. His secular plays included The Surgeon of His Honour (1635), Life Is a Dream (1638), and his masterpiece, The Daughter of the Air (1653). His many plays on religious themes include The Constant Prince (1629) and The Wonder-Working Magician (1637). He also created 76 one-act religious dramas, notably The Great Theatre of the World (с 1635) and The Faithful Shepherd (1678). Considered the successor to Lope de Vega as the greatest playwright of the Spanish Golden Age, he was noted for his well-constructed plots and his preoccupation with the vanity of human existence.