What makes the seducer so irresistible? A cultural and historical character puzzle

Born through word of mouth, his character was first committed to parchment by a Catholic priest but was never set in stone, and so he became the archetype of the seducer that conquered western culture. This eternally youthful figure is a quintessential feature of Spanish Baroque, French Classicism, German Romanticism, English irony and the dramatic landscape of the 20th century.