Biography

She holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the Università degli Studi di Bologna (Italy), awarded in 2005. She specialized in quadratura painting (architectural paintings in perspective) in Italy and the Atlantic world during the Portuguese Empire in the 16th-18th centuries. Previously, she earned a degree in flute and taught Music History. Her research focuses on the intersection between quadratura, scenography, music, and architecture, as well as the connections between Europe and the global world, particularly in the 18th century. She is currently an associate researcher at CES, where she is part of the thematic line "Europe and the Global South: Heritage and Dialogues." Her current individual and collective projects include Early-modern art and architecture. Atlantic slave trade and cross-cultural dynamics. The case of African Portugal between heritage and politics of recognition (2019-2025) [CEECIND 2017] and Cultura escenográfica en el contexto hispánico de la Edad Moderna: Un enfoque holístico (2021-2025) [Proyecto i+D+i del Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)]. She was recently awarded an FCT Exploratory Project as Principal Investigator [PI] titled Making Portugal, which explores the intersection of architecture, visual arts, and performing arts in early modern Portugal (2025-2026). Between 2019-2020, she co-led the collective project 1719-2019. Filippo Juvarra, Domenico Scarlatti e o papel das mulheres na promoção da ópera e do teatro em Portugal, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Among her numerous publications, the following stand out: the monograph O projeto de D. João V. Lisboa ocidental, Mafra e o urbanismo cenográfico de Filippo Juvarra, Lisbon, Caleidoscópio, 2021; the co-edition of the book Filippo Juvarra, Domenico Scarlatti e il ruolo delle donne nella promozione dell'opera in Portugallo, Rome, Artemide, 2021; the co-edition of the book Theater spaces for Music in 18th century Europe, Vienna, Hollitzer, 2020; the article "Trasformare la cultura di corte: La regina Maria Anna d'Asburgo e l'introduzione dell'opera italiana in Portogallo" RMP-Revista Portuguesa de Musicologia, 5/1, 2018, 18-38; and the recent chapter "The church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black People in Salvador (Brazil), and the enslaved painter António Telles at Olinda," in Stephen John Campbell and Stephanie Porras (eds.), The Routledge Companion to the Global Renaissance, New York: Routledge, 2024, 624-639. The interdisciplinarity of its approach particularly highlights the overlooked role of women as patrons and agents in the fields of architecture, music, and theater; the ignored patronage of African and Afro-descendant communities in Portugal in the fields of arts and architecture; the reinterpretation of the arts, music, and architecture during the reign of King João V, proposing a new critical perspective on the urban, architectural, and theatrical projects, deeply linked to Italian opera, developed by Filippo Juvarra; the circulation of artists, musicians, and architects across Europe and the global exchanges in the geographies of the Portuguese Empire during the modern era.