Abstract

El mayor encanto amor includes an enigmatic character that is almost hidden in this spectacle play.Timanthes, who only speaks some twenty lines in the play, represents an onomastic mnemonics, as his name reminds a learned spectator of the famous painter of classical antiquity. Calderón includes him as a character in Darlo todo y no dar nada and alludes to him in other works such as La vida es sueño. Timanthes can be seen as a way to praise Cosimo Lotti, the «painter» or scenographer of the play. But he also refers to the playwright who manipulates the text so as to hide political meanings in a play performed at the palace of the Sun King, Philip IV. Since Timanthes´ most famous painting is The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, where Agamemnon´s facial expression is veiled, we can locate clear parallels with the veiling of Achilles in Calderón’s play. Veiling/concealing errors or defects is Timanthes’ trademark.