Joan Leonardszoon Blasius (13 April 1639 – 6 December 1672) was a Dutch poet, playwright, translator and lawyer. Born near

Cadzand Cadzand is a village in the Dutch province of Zeeland. It is located in the municipality of Sluis, about 8 km northwest of Oostburg. The village contains 790 inhabitants (2010). Better known to many visitors is the nearby beach at Cadzand ...

in Oostvliet, a village now lost to the North Sea, he was the younger brother of the famous doctor

Gerard Blasius Gerard "Gerrit" Leendertszoon Blasius (1627–1682) was a Dutch physician and anatomist. He was born in Amsterdam and was the eldest son of Leonhard Blasius (died 1644), who had worked as an architect in Copenhagen. Gerard started his studies ...

. Blasius in 1670 became director of the Amsterdam Municipal Theatre, the Amsterdamse Schouwburg, but because of this powerful position as well as the romantic nature of his works for the theatre, he incurred the enmity of the tradition oriented theatre company "Nil volentibus arduum". When he put on

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

's ''

Menaechmi ''Menaechmi'', a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as ''The Brothers Menaechmus'' or ''The Two Menaechmuses''. ''Menaechmi'' is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a set o ...

'' in translation, that theatre company promptly came out with a translation of its own. Their attacks, however, were fiercely answered by Blasius' friends, especially Thomases Asselyn. Blasius' work was in high repute amongst his contemporaries, but today critical opinion no longer holds it in high esteem. Blasius died in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. His friends contributed to an ''

Album amicorum The ''album amicorum'' ('album of friends', friendship book) was an early form of the poetry book, the autograph book and the modern friendship book. It emerged during the reformation, Reformation period, during which it was popular to collect ...

'' for him, which included work by such prominent authors as Joost van der Vondel,

Constantijn Huygens Sir Constantijn Huygens, Lord of Zuilichem ( , , ; 4 September 159628 March 1687), was a Dutch Golden Age poet and composer. He was also secretary to two Princes of Orange: Frederick Henry and William II, and the father of the scientist C ...

, Joannes Antonides van der Goes, Jan Vos and Jacob Westerbaen.author page for Joan Blasius
in the DBNL

Poetry

*''Geslachtboom der Goden en Godinnen, waarachter bijgevoegde Mengeldichten'' (1661) *
Fidamants Kusjes, Minnewijsen en Bijrijmen aan Celestijne
' (1663) *''Heilige Gedachten over het avondmaal onses Heeren (naar 't Latijn van R. Kenchenius) met noch andere Bijbelstof'' (1665) n adaptation of Kenchenius' poem in Latin

Drama

*''De Edelmoedige Vijanden'' (a comedy after Scarron) (1659) *''Lysander en Kaliste'' (first part, 1660; reissued 1663; second part, 1663) *''Dubbel en Enkkel'' (a comedy after Plautus) (1670) *''Het Huwelijk van Oroondate en Statira'' (after the French) (1670) *''De Malle Wedding'' (a farce after Boisrobert) (1671).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blasius, Joan Leonardszoon 1639 births 1672 deaths 17th-century Dutch dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Dutch lawyers 17th-century Dutch poets Dutch male poets People from Sluis Dutch male dramatists and playwrights