Montserrat Cabré is Professor of the History of Science at the University of
Cantabria, Spain. Since the 1990s, she has been working on the care of the female body
in medieval culture, paying special attention to its visibility and how cosmetics and
adornment were considered to be part of healthcare. She is interested in the study of
beautifying practices as envisioned by medical practitioners as well as by laywomen and
men, and the way they were used to create and perform sexual difference and gender.
She is committed to investigating the singular character of knowledge in relation to
beauty and how it was authorized and transmitted in medieval and early modern
sources. She has particularly studied the Latin traditions and the Iberian vernaculars. In
2022, along with Romana Sammern and Erin Griffey, she co-founded Beauty Talks, a
seminar series on beautifying practices.