The Bestiary in Lope de Vega’s Sacramental Plays

In the critical bibliography referred to Lope de Vega, the scholar usually finds the image of this author as a forerunner of Calderón. A good strategy to verify this impression is through partial studies as this devoted to the analysis of the bestiary in the sacramental plays. This article analyses the bestiary assigned to Christ, the devil and others more eclectic references ascribed to metaphorical expressions, or biblical characters. In short, the author proves that there is a strategy of performance through associative nets (that combines biblical text, patristic references, emblems, sculpture and painting) laying down the way to the magnificense of Calderón