BIOGRAPHY

Verónica Abenza (Barcelona, 1987) studied as an undergraduate and postgraduate at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) [BA, History of Art, 2007-2011; MA, Analysis and Management of Artistic Heritage, 2012-2013]. She completed her studies with an Erasmus scholarship at Università degli Studi di Roma (I), La Sapienza (2010).

She submitted a Master Thesis on The Jaca ivories and the agency of queen Felicia of Roucy (El Díptic de Jaca i la reina Felicia de Roucy. Un model (?) dels perfils de Promoció artística femenina a l’Aragó a l’últim terç del segle XI), supervised by Prof. Dr. Manuel Castiñeiras (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona).

In 2013, Verónica was awarded with a Four Year Predoctoral Fellowship within the National Programme for Training Human Resources (FPI) provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This predoctoral fellowship is providing her four years of support for her PhD studies and research under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Manuel Castiñeiras (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). Her PhD thesis deals with Female Artistic Patronage in Aragon and Catalonia (11th-12th centuries).

Previously, as a master’s-degree student she did a Research internship at the Museu Episcopal de Vic (MEV). After receiving her BA, she collaborated as a researcher on the research project Encyclopaedia of Romanesque Art in the Iberian Peninsula. This research project was carried out by the Fundación Santa María la Real (FSMLR) – Centre for Romanesque Studies, which conducted leading research for the recovery and dissemination of archaeological heritage. She collaborated in the volume regarding Huesca with more than 70 short articles.

Due to her predoctoral fellowship she joined the Department of Art and Musicology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), where she teaches Byzantine Art. Moreover, she is currently scientific collaborator and researcher in the UAB’s research project Artists, Patrons and Audiences. Catalonia and the Mediterranean (11th-15th centuries)  – MAGISTRI CATALONIAE (HAR2011-23015), managing along with Manuel Castiñeiras and Carles Sánchez the Index Magistri Cataloniae, a digital database of Catalan medieval artists and workshops.

She coordinated the I Magistri Cataloniae International Symposium: “Artista anònim, artista amb signatura. Identitat, estatus i rol de l’artista en l’art medieval”, which was organized by the research project Magistri Cataloniae and the Museu Episcopal de Vic (2014). In addition, she has participated in some international conferences, meetings and workshops:

V. ABENZA: “El Díptic de Jaca i la reina Felicia de Roucy”. XXI Seminari de Romànic. Ecos i objectes de Bizanci a Catalunya. Associació Amics de Besalú i el seu comtat-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Magistri Cataloniae). 6-9 July 2012.

V. ABENZA: (Poster) “The Jaca ivories: towards a re-evaluation of 11th Century Female patronage in the Kingdom of Aragon”. Romanesque Art. Patrons and processes. British Archeological Association-Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. 7-9 April 2014. [Poster]

V. ABENZA: “El taller de orfebrería del abad Bégon III y Aragón a finales del siglo XI”. Workshop. L’abbatiale Sainte-Foy de Conques et son rayonnement aux XIe et XIIe siècles. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Magistri Cataloniae). 7 May 2014.

V. ABENZA: “Mujeres y artistas. ¿Un género subestimado?”. I SIMPOSI INTERNACIONAL MAGISTRI CATALONIAE. Artista anònim, artista amb signatura. Identitat, estatus i rol de l’artista en l’art medieval. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Magistri Cataloniae)-Museu Episcopal de Vic. 7-8 November 2014.

V. ABENZA: “IN THE NAME OF THE QUEEN. Female patron portraits and inscriptions in 11th Century Aragon”, International Conference. Presence and InVisibility. Sign-bearing artefacts in sacred spaces. Materiale Textkulturen, Universität Heidelberg. 23-25 February 2015.

She was appointed for the documentation team of the Exhibition: “Pintar fa mil anys. Els colors del Romànic” (Sala temporal del Museu Episcopal de Vic/ 31 May-14 December 2014), which was organized by the Museu Episcopal de Vic with the collaboration of the research project MAGISTRI CATALONIAE, the CETEC-patrimoni (IQS-UAB) and the Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya. Similarly, she has been part of the documentation team for the edition of the book: Pintar fa mil anys. Els colors i l’ofici del pintor romànic (Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona/MAGISTRI CATALONIAE, 2014. ISBN:  978-84-490-4848-7) [CASTIÑEIRAS, M.; VERDAGUER, J. (ed.)].

Verónica Abenza is part of the new GRUP DE RECERCA (GdR) [research group] MAGISTRI CATALONIAE, of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in association with the Departament d’Art i Musicologia (UAB).

Research interests

• Female artistic patronage in the Middle Ages.
• Art and architecture of the Iberian Peninsula in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, with particular interest in: assessing the impact of historical and social circumstances on the formal development of art.
• Artistic interchange between Eastern and Western Mediterranean in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.