Maya Angelou
94% Profile Match
Attributed to Juan de Jauregui, c.1600, Real Academia de la Historia (traditional, unverified portrait of Cervantes), public domain · Wikimedia Commons, 'Cervantes Jauregui.jpg' -- oil on panel, about 1600, held by the Real Academia de la Historia (Madrid), attributed to Juan de Jauregui (died 1641); Commons credits the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes and Bridgeman Art Library object 119216, tagged PD-Art / PD-old-auto-expired. IMPORTANT: this is NOT a documented likeness. Commons and the Biblioteca Virtual (which captions it 'Cervantes (?)') state that no authentic portrait of Cervantes exists, that modern scholarship does not accept this image as authentic, that no document shows Jauregui painted it, and that the painted names are centuries later. It is shown only as the traditional, presumed portrait (a historical depiction). Original 1443 x 1893 pixels, 423,402 bytes (SHA-1 of the download fd1e1a67a565acf0a7e4110a14baa733d9c9ec95); stored copy downscaled only to 915 x 1200. Rights basis: a c.1600 painting by a painter who died in 1641, so out of copyright everywhere relevant; the file is a faithful photographic reproduction of a flat work. Residual caveat: the specific photograph's own rights are not stated on Commons beyond the PD-Art assertion; no conflicting notice was found on the Biblioteca Virtual image page (its legal page was not opened). · Public domain (painting c.1600; Commons PD-Art, PD-old-auto-expired)
writer · Early Modern
Miguel de Cervantes
1547–1616
Known For
artisticcultural
Not yet included in personality matching — the documented evidence doesn't yet cover enough of the personality model. Everything else on this page is fully available.
Trait Constellation
Key Achievements
Wrote Don Quixote (Part I 1605, Part II 1615), which many scholars regard as the first modern novel; Britannica calls him the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature, and the book has been translated into more than 60 languages.
Worked in nearly every major genre: the pastoral romance La Galatea (1585), plays and interludes, the Exemplary Stories (1613), the verse Journey to Parnassus (1614) and the romance Persiles, published after his death.
After a rival's false sequel appeared in 1614, he finished and published the real Part II in 1615, answering the imitation inside the story and carrying Don Quixote's adventures to their end.
Moments That Reveal Them
When a false continuation of Don Quixote appeared in 1614, he wrote its existence into his own Part II: Don Quixote leafs through the false book and meets one of its characters, who confirms the real hero.
This is consistent with an author who answered a rival by reworking his own project rather than ignoring it. Adaptability
He completed Persiles and Sigismunda, a romance promised in several earlier prefaces, four days before his death in 1616; it was published after he died.
This is consistent with a writer who kept working toward a long-promised book to the end of his life. Persistence
Turning Points
After Lope de Vega came to dominate the Madrid stage, he set his plays aside and in 1615 published them in print as eight comedies and eight interludes never performed, a break from the usual route to an audience.
This is consistent with a writer who changed channel when the usual one closed to him. Experimentation
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Sources
- Miguel de Cervantes (Q5682) -- verified live via the Wikidata API (2026-10-24): English label 'Miguel de Cervantes', description 'Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (1547-1616)', Korean label '미겔 데 세르반테스', born 1547 (29 September 1547 recorded, plus a year-only value), died 1616 (22 April, 23 April and year-only values), citizenship Spain. Orientation only; not used as support for any row.
- Jean Canavaggio, 'Biografia de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra' (three pages), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, Universidad de Alicante, read in full in Spanish: documented-record limits (many gaps, 1597-1604 especially, and little known of motives); Lepanto 1571 and the wounds; four escape attempts from Algiers in which he always sought to take sole responsibility, the 1580 ransom of 500 ducados by the Trinitarians; the failed bid for an Indies post in 1590 ('Busque por aca en que se le haga merced'); his years as supply commissary and the 1592 and 1594-1597 jailings; the 1585 Galatea; his claim, in the 1615 prologue to Ocho comedias, to have cut plays from five acts to three, then the rise of Lope de Vega and his decision to print rather than stage plays; Don Quixote Part I (end of 1604, quickly pirated and reprinted); the 1614 Avellaneda continuation, its insulting prologue, and his reply in the 1615 Part II (writing 23 chapters in about two months in summer 1614, a rebuttal in the prologue, the book Don Quijote leafs through, the character don Alvaro Tarfe); the unfulfilled Lemos hopes; finishing Persiles four days before he died. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE (with Britannica). Specialist scholar's narrative; balanced, notes that many 'known' anecdotes are unproven; his remarks on religion, family and illness were not used.
- 'Miguel de Cervantes', Encyclopaedia Britannica (articles by Anne J. Cruz, University of Miami, and Edward C. Riley, University of Edinburgh), read through an Internet Archive copy that is cut off after the Algiers captivity section: calls him the creator of Don Quixote and the most important figure in Spanish literature; Don Quixote translated into more than 60 languages; 'a great experimenter' who tried every major genre except the epic; the Exemplary Stories as close to the novel's level in miniature; no university education; independent accounts of his courage at Lepanto; four escape bids from Algiers; made little money from his writing; worked as royal messenger, Armada commissary and tax collector. CANONICAL SIGNIFICANCE SOURCE. Later sections (publication of Don Quixote, critical traditions, influence) were not in the copy that could be opened.
- 'Miguel de Cervantes', Academy of American Poets (poets.org) biography: Don Quixote (Part I about 1605, Part II 1615) as one of the most significant works of world literature and, in the view of many scholars, the first modern novel; Galatea 1585; Exemplary Stories 1613, which he called the first novellas in Castilian (the page says scholars think the claim likely true); Journey to Parnassus 1614 as his best-known verse; recurring financial trouble and little gain from Don Quixote; he reportedly rated a play above his novel. Read through a page-extraction tool that returns a summary. Reference-level and admiring; its mention of a Valladolid stabbing and a duel was not used (Canavaggio shows he was a bystander in the 1605 Ezpeleta case).
- Alfonso Martin-Jimenez (University of Valladolid), 'Cervantes and Avellaneda, the mysterious author of the sequel to Don Quixote' (English article on the author's academic blog): argues that Part II is a corrective, satirical reworking of Avellaneda's 1614 continuation and that Cervantes knew the author was the Aragonese soldier Jeronimo de Pasamonte; points to Part II chapters 59, 61 and 70 and the final chapter's request that the false author not continue. Read through a page-extraction tool. One scholar's confident, contested thesis; the Pasamonte identification is NOT accepted here, and only the uncontroversial point that Cervantes answered the false sequel inside Part II is used (Canavaggio independently reports the same and notes the identification lacks decisive proof).
- Wikimedia Commons file page 'Cervantes Jauregui.jpg' (wikitext and rendered page) and the Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes image page 'Retrato de Miguel de Cervantes (?) de Juan de Jauregui' -- checked for the portrait: Commons titles it a 'supposed portrait', oil on panel about 1600, attributed to Juan de Jauregui (died 1641), held by the Real Academia de la Historia, tagged PD-Art with PD-old-auto-expired; the Commons text states that modern scholarship does not accept this or any other image as an authentic likeness of Cervantes and that no document shows Jauregui painted it; the painted names are centuries later than the panel. The Biblioteca Virtual itself captions the image with a question mark.