Joaquín Yarza Luaces

He collaborated actively in the production of the catalog of the medieval Museo Frederic Marès of Barcelona. He directed the magazine Of the Department of Art History of the Autonomous University of Barcelona Locus Amoenus from its creation in 1995. He was also part of the next magazines Cuadernos de Historia de España (Buenos Aires), Traza y Baza (UB), D’Art (UB), Quaderns d’Estudis Medievals (Art Estudi) and Artigrama (Universidad de Zaragoza).

He was member of the Spanish Committee of History of the Art between 1982 and 1988. From 1990 he was part of the Board of Museums of Catalonia and of the Board of Qualification, Valuation and Export of Goods of the Cultural Patrimony of Catalonia.

Joaquín is the grandson of José Joaquín Yarza Albea, eminence of the naval world in Spain. Joaquín Yarza was destined to be a naval engineer, as this was the tradition of the Yarza family, originally from Donostia (Spain) and settled in Vigo (Spain). After his first course at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, the brilliant student discovered that his true passion was not the ships, but art history. Once the decision was made, he presented himself at home in front of his father, delivered his honour grades in his first course of naval engineering, and communicated to his family his desire to devote himself to his passion. He studied art history at the Complutense University of Madrid from 1961 to 1965, where he began teaching after writing a doctorate thesis entitled "Iconography of the miniature of the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the kingdoms of Castile and León. For several years he combined the positions of professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1965-1969) and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (1968-1974). From 1974 to 1981, he was a professor of art history at the University of Barcelona and later at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where he was professor of art.

Joaquín Yarza Luaces (Ferrol, Spain August 16, 1936 - Barcelona March 6, 2016) was a Spanish art historian. Professor Yarza began his professional career in Madrid. He began his work as a teacher in Barcelona in 1974, where he later died. Since then, he has been a guide to medieval studies with special prominence in Renaissance subjects.