Luís Carlos Martins Pena (November 5, 1815 – December 7, 1848) was a Brazilian playwright, famous for introducing to Brazil the "comedy of manners", winning the epithet of "the Brazilian Molière". He is patron of the 29th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Life

Martins Pena was born in Rio de Janeiro, to João Martins Pena and Francisca de Paula Julieta Pena. Losing his father when he was 1 year old, and his mother when he was 10, he was delivered to the care of tutors, who ingressed him at the world of commerce. However, seeing that it was not what he wanted, he entered at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes in 1835, learning Architecture, Statuary, Drawing and Music. Entering at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1838, he travelled to many countries, such as England, where he contracted tuberculosis. Moving to Lisbon in an unsuccessful attempt of mitigating the disease, he died in 1848.

Works