Juan Bautista Diamante

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Juan Bautista Diamante (1640?–1684?), Spanish dramatist, was born at Castillo about 1640, entered the army, and began writing for the stage in 1657. He became a knight of Santiago in 1660; the date of his death is unknown, but no reference to him as a living author occurs after 1684.

The originality of Diamante's work has been questioned by critics; La Desgraciada Raquel, which was long considered to be his best play, is really Mira de Amescuas Judia de Toledo under another title; and the earliest of Diamante's surviving pieces, El Honrador de su padre (1658), is little more than a free translation of Corneille's Le Cid. Diamante is historically interesting as the introducer of French dramatic methods into Spain.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.