Andrea Van Houtven received her Ph.D. in art history at the University of Maryland. Her dissertation was on the relationship between art and humanism at the Spanish court in the early 17th century, which inevitably led her to Madrid. She has lived in Madrid for 12 years where she has been teaching art history and art-related courses at various universities and private centers. She also participates in special events at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

Originally from Equatorial Guinea, Clara moved to Spain when she was 2 years old. She holds degrees in geography and history and a Master’s in art history from Sorbonne University in Paris. With more than fifteen years experience in museum education and public programs, Clara has worked at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice (Italy), the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, and a number of institutions within the cultural department of the Ministry of Culture in Spain. She also has designed art and cultural tours for groups for more than 10 years. At present Clara works as a Public Programmes and Communication Coordinator at the Museo del Traje (Costume Museum) of Madrid, organising events, lectures, group visits and educational programmes. An avid traveller, she has lived in Seville, Bilbao, New York City, Washington, D.C., Venice, Florence, London and Paris. Interested in different aspects of Spanish cultures, she also has been developing her other passion: food. She has certificates in wine tasting from the Spanish School of Wine Tasting and the Basque Culinary Center and in Gastronomy from the Complutense University. At the present she enjoys combining her research in Spanish Art History and Spanish Museums with her passion about food in Madrid and in the Basque Country.

Barbara Perucka has been living for more than five years in Madrid. She earned her Ph.D. in Art History, as well as her Bachelor’s degree in Italian Philology, at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (Poland). Her research interests focus on medieval painting, art at European courts, and travel literature. Her doctoral thesis was dedicated to the decoration of a French manuscript "Livre des merveilles" (Book of Wonders, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. fr. 2810). She has published papers about late medieval tapestries and medieval illustrated accounts of a journey, and was a professor of art history at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and Nebrija University in Madrid. She also received several research grants in Paris, Dijon, Vienna, Pisa and Brussels.