Calle Bretón de los Herreros

Manuel Bretón de los Herreros was born in Quel, a village in La Rioja, in 1796, and came to Madrid as a child. He served in the army during the War of Independence, and in 1818 lost his left eye to a knife wound in a duel. Once out of the military, he threw himself into letters. His name stayed tied to comedy. He wrote around a hundred original plays and translated from French. His breakthrough came in 1831 with Marcela, o ¿a cuál de los tres?, a mocking portrait of a widow weighing up three suitors. He cultivated satire of bourgeois manners in the wake of Moratín, with a fine ear for dialogue and drawing-room gossip. He directed the National Library and joined the Royal Spanish Academy. The street runs through the Ríos Rosas neighborhood, between Santa Engracia and the paseo de la Castellana.