Among the clichés that plague Spanish cultural identity, the so-called leyenda negra certainly played a decisive role, also preventing the establishment of an adequate Spanish literary canon at a European level. However, there is an opposite view, born with Romanticism, which exalts the native Spanish genius and its tendency to contrast classical imitation. In the game between the two legends – the black one and the golden one – the judgment on the Seventeenth century theratre, and on Calderón de la Barca, has always played a fundamental role. The text intends to contribute to the analysis of a key phase of this process, namely the moment in which Böhl de Faber published a translation from German into Castilian of the lectures on theater by A.W. Schlegel, influencing the entry of romantic ideas in Spain, the interpretation of the Calderonian theater and the cultural identity of the country.
