Abstract
This article tries to restore the central figure of doña Catalina de la Cerda, lady-inwaiting
of the queen during the first quarter or the 17th Century, consistently
mistaken for other noble women of higher social rank. Nevertheless, this lady
enjoyed an unparallel celebrity at court, due to her beauty and personality, and
became a center of attraction for courtiers and ambassadors at every ceremony,
andher appealing figure served as a muse for the greatest poets of her time, such as
Góngora, Quevedo, Villamediana, Vélez de Guevara, or Paravicino, among others.