ABSTRACT
Figure 8.1 Intercambio de las Princesas María Ana de Austria e Isabel de Borbón en el Río Bidasoa.
To what extent did the arrival and presence in Spain of the future queen, Isabel of Borbón, encourage the deployment of large stage machinery at the Spanish theater?1 Built by Italian engineers, this machinery had resulted in complaints, first by Lope de Vega, and later by Calderón de la Barca.2
How much did her taste for the French ballet de cour influence not only the incorporation of Greek and Roman narratives in Spanish Golden Age comedias, but also the use of allegorical figures taken from Renaissance
