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 Leonard Blasius (died 1644), who had worked as an architect in Copenhagen. Gerard started his studies th ...

. Blasius in 1670 became director of the Amsterdam Municipal Theatre, the

Amsterdamse Schouwburg The Stadsschouwburg (; Dutch: ''Municipal Theatre'') of Amsterdam is the name of a theatre building at the Leidseplein in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The building is in the neo-Renaissance style dating back to 1894, and is the former home of the Na ...

, 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 (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, 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 ...

'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''. The ''Menaechmi'' is a comedy about mistaken identity, involving a se ...

'' 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 ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. His friends contributed to an ''

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

'' 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 Ch ...

, Joannes Antonides van der Goes,

Jan Vos Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article Numbe ...

and

Jacob Westerbaen Ridder Jacob Westerbaen (7 September 1599 – 31 March 1670), ''heer'' (squire) of Brantwyck-en-Ghybelant, was a Dutch poet. Life Westerbaen was born in The Hague, the son of a rope maker, and was initially schooled in the Staten-College, then ...

.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