Picasso had a decades-long interest in Celestina, the leading character in Fernando de Rojas's La Celestina (1499), and created his own subjective vision of her as she mixed with and manipulated the men and women of her town. In his own recreation of La Celestina, Picasso found Celestina to be a figure who not only amused him but became a source of comfort to him in his final years. Salus considers Celestina's roles in Picasso's works on paper, canvas, and clay in terms of art historical and literary sources as well as linguistic meanings of images in specific examples. Cultural influences such as puppetry, opera, folk music, and a crossword puzzle in which the madam appears reveal the persistence of Celestina in Picasso's oeuvre. Carol Salus is Associate Professor of Art History at Kent State University. Her interest in La Celestina grew from her long time love of Picasso and his work. She was a participant in the NEH seminar, "Celestina on the Brink of Modernity" at the University of Virginia in 2009. She teaches both European and American late nineteenth and early twentieth century art history courses. She earned her doctorate at the Ohio State University.