Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza (1586 – 22 September 1644) was a Spanish dramatist.
He rose rapidly into favor under Philip IV, who appointed him private secretary, commissioned from him comedias palaciegas for the royal theatre at Aranjuez, and in 1623 conferred on him the orders of Santiago and Calatrava.
The best edition of Mendoza's plays and verses bears the title of Obras liricas y comicas, divinas y humanas (1728).
Much of his work does not rise above the level of graceful and accomplished verse; but that he had higher qualities is shown by El marido hace mujer, a brilliant comedy of manners, which forms the chief source of Molière's École des maris.
[1] The Fiesta que se hizo en Aranjuez and Querer por solo querer were translated into English by Sir Richard Fanshawe, afterwards ambassador at Madrid, in a posthumous volume published in 1671.