Portrait of Félix Lope de Vega

Lope de Vega (also F�lix Lope de Vega y Carpio, 1562-1635) was a Spanish Baroque playwright and poet. He was born about two years before Marlowe and Shakespeare, but outlived them both. The first Spanish dramatist to make a living as a playwright - and now considered the greatest of all Spanish playwrights - Lope is said to have written over 2,200 plays, over 500 of which have survived.