Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes

Cervantes is one of the most influential novelists in the history of world literature.  Born near Madrid, the young Cervantes served as a soldier in Italy, where he was introduced to Renaissance art and Roman antiquities.  In a battle onboard a ship, he received gunshot wounds resulting in the amputation of his left arm.  After settling in Madrid, he wrote plays and published his first novel, La Galatea, a pastoral romance.  His masterpiece is Don Quixote.

Creator of “Don Quixote”, one of the most famous characters in literature, Cervantes was a Spanish writer and poet. He is said to have written 20 to 30 plays. His characters came from ordinary people but were presented in a larger-than-life manner.