Tomás António Gonzaga
One of the most famous Neoclassic writers in colonial Brazil, he was also the ouvidor and the ombudsman of the city of Ouro Preto (formerly "Vila Rica"), as well as the desembargador of the appeal court in Bahia.[1] He presented himself as a candidate for a chair at the University, with the thesis Tratado de Direito Natural, heavily influenced by Enlightenment ideals.[1] By that time, he was engaged to a woman named Maria Doroteia Joaquina de Seixas Brandão, possibly the "Marília" of his verses.His hope of being freed from his prison in order to see his beloved again is a prominent theme of the second part of his poetry book Marília de Dirceu.His reputation rests on Marília, which contains all his published verses and is organized into two parts, corresponding with the stages of his life, the second having been written in prison.