Alexander Vergara received his PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts. His doctoral dissertation was expanded into Rubens and His Spanish Patrons (1999). Vergara has taught art history at the University of California, San Diego, and Columbia University, and is currently Senior Curator of Flemish and Northern European Paintings at the Museo del Prado in Madrid. He has curated numerous exhibitions in that area, including shows devoted to the art of Patinir, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer. His publications include a complete catalogue of the oeuvre of Patinir (2007), as well as studies on different aspects of Rubens’s art and Flemish painting.