José Ramón

Marcaida López

José Ramón Marcaida (PhD, 2011, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) is a Tenured Researcher at the Department of History of Science, Institute of History, CSIC. He works on the intersections of science and art in the early modern period, with a particular focus on the Hispanic context. His research interests include the contribution of images and image-makers to the production and dissemination of scientific knowledge; the development of knowledge-making practices in contexts and processes like the exploration and conquest of the Americas, scientific expeditions and the cultures of collecting; and the appropriation and reinterpretation of scientific themes in the cultural discourse of the period.

He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge (2012-2013); a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge (2014-2017); and an Affiliated Lecturer at the Department of History of Art, University of Cambridge (2015-2017). In 2018, he became a Lecturer in Art History at the School of Art History, University of St Andrews, a position he held until 2021, when he joined the CSIC.

He is the author of Arte y ciencia en el Barroco español. Historia natural, coleccionismo y cultura visual (Marcial Pons, 2014), winner of the IV Premio Internacional Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez “Arte del Barroco”; “Rubens and the bird of paradise. Painting natural knowledge in the early seventeenth century” (Renaissance Studies, 2014); Logodaedalus. Word Histories of Ingenuity in Early Modern Europe (Pittsburgh University Press, 2018), co-authored with Alexander Marr, Raphaële Garrod and Richard J. Oosterhoff; and co-editor, with Richard J. Oosterhoff and Alexander Marr, of Ingenuity in the Making. Matter and Technique in Early Modern Europe (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021).

He has been a member of several research projects, including “Genius Before Romanticism: Ingenuity in Early Modern Art and Science” (2014-2017, University of Cambridge; European Research Council - EC617391, PI: Alexander Marr); “Imágenes y fantasmas de la ciencia ibérica, ss. XVI-XVIII” (2014-2018, Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, CSIC; HAR2014-52157-P, PI: Juan Pimentel), and “Saberes de las dos indias. La materia medica en el mundo colonial ibérico, ss. XVI-XVII” (2020-2023, CSIC; PID2019-106449GB-I00; PI: José Pardo Tomás and Juan Pimentel).

His teaching and supervisory roles cover areas such as the history of early modern European science, the history of early modern European art and visual culture, cultural history, art and technology, and visual studies.

His interest in public engagement and outreach has led to a number of activities and collaborations with institutions like the Prado Museum, the V&A, and the University Library at the University of Cambridge.