Manuel Tamayo y Baus(1829-1898)

Son of actors and playwrights and relative of influential politicians, his early years were spent traveling with the theatre company belonging to their parents. His first steps were taken within a Romanticism that was beginning to be old fashioned, but gradually progressed toward Realism and high comedy, joining the neoclassical comedy. He started by making adaptations, like the one titled 'Joan of Arc' (1847), on Schiller's 'The Maid of Orleans', one of his reference authors, or more or less clear imitations, as 'An adventure of Richelieu', inspired by Alexandre Dumas. It is provided with his tragedy 'Virginia' (1853). He triumphed with 'Rich female' (1854), and 'Madness of Love' (released on January 12, 1855), a historical drama about the jealous Queen Juana the insane and her husband Philip the Handsome, showing the influence of the German playwright Friedrich Schiller. An adaptation for the screen was filmed by Juan de Orduña and interpreted by Aurora Bautista. When her love collides with the interests of the State, the nobles ask her to defend Castile against her husband. When he died, she cries and shows a true love for him, oblivious to the reason of state. Later works, such as 'The Snowball' (1856) place Tamayo in the high comedy of Realism. His most famous work was 'A New Drama' (1867), inspired by Shakespeare's theatre, where he mixed the theme of the play within a play with adultery. In 1870, following the failure of his drama 'Good men', he decided to give up writing and focus his life in other activities, since he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Royal Spanish Academy (1874) and director of the National Library (1884) and the squad of archivists. He had already written more than fifty dramas.

His remains lie in the cemetery of San Justo in Madrid, finding his grave in the most complete abandonment.