1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Cañizares, José de

CAÑIZARES, JOSÉ DE (1676–1750), Spanish dramatist, was born at Madrid on the 4th of July 1676, entered the army, and retired with the rank of captain in 1702 to act as censor of the Madrid theatres and steward to the duke of Osuna. In his fourteenth year Cañizares recast a play by Lope de Vega under the title of Las Cuentas del Gran Capitán, and he speedily became a fashionable playwright. His originality, however, is slight, and El Dómine Lucas, the only one of his pieces that is still read, is an adaptation from Lope de Vega. Cañizares produced a version of Racine’s Iphigénie shortly before 1716, and is to some extent responsible for the destruction of the old Spanish drama. He died on the 4th of September 1750, at Madrid.