BOSCÁN, JUAN

(ca. 1490-1542)

Catalan poet andhumanist. He received a humanistic education at the court of KingFerdinand of Aragonand tutored the future Spanish general and governor of the Netherlands, the Duke of Alva. In 1526 his encounter with theVenetianambassador Andrea Navagero, a noted humanist and poet, awakened his interest in imitating Italian poetry in his own language, and he and his close associateGarcilaso de Vegapioneered the introduction ofPetrarchanthemes and Italian verse forms into Spanish literature. He is also known as the translator of the famousBook of the CourtierbyBaldassare Castiglione, a book that shaped the ideas and manners of the Spanish court for the rest of the century.