Luzán, Ignacio de

Luzán, Ignacio de (ēgnä`thyō thā lthän`), 1702–54, Spanish scholar and critic. He studied the classics and the humanities in Italy. From 1747 to 1749 he was secretary at the Spanish embassy in Paris. Luzán's most famous work is La poética (1737), in which he voices the need for neoclassical rules and principles in poetry. About a third of the book, which had great influence, is a critical study of the Spanish drama. Luzán was the translator of many Latin, French, English, and Italian works.