# Anna Tummers

Anna Tummers is a Dutch art historian, curator, and researcher, known for her work on Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish painting, particularly those of the seventeenth century. She is a professor in Early Modern Art at Ghent University.

## Biography

Anna Tummers began her career as a research assistant at the Print Room, Windsor in Windsor Castle, England (1999–2000). She then served as an assistant curator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. (2000–2003). From 2003 to 2008, she was a lecturer and research associate at the University of Amsterdam. Tummers has explained that during her time in Windsor and Washington D.C. she started to take notes while researching, about seventeenth-century Dutch art theory, and that these notes lead her to explore the topic further, during her dissertation.
On 1 November 2008, Tummers became the curator of old masters at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, succeeding Pieter Biesboer. She held this position until 2021, and left the museum world to dedicate herself to her interests in academia.
Tummers is noted for her work in developing new methodologies in art authentication, combining traditional connoisseurship with modern scientific techniques. Tummers’s research often focuses on the ethical dimensions of art authentication, examining the profound impact that expert opinions can have on the cultural and economic value of artworks. Because of this, she has received significant grants, including a European Research Council grant to explore new methods of identifying art forgeries. Tummers's work in art historical research has been described by Myrthe Timmers as being different, "from traditional expertise by using the newest technical analysis methods and computer science."

## Publications

* The Eye of the Connoisseur: Authenticating Paintings by Rembrandt and His Contemporaries (2011)
* Frans Hals: Eye to Eye with Rembrandt, Rubens, and Titian (2013)
* The Art of Laughter: Humour in the Dutch Golden Age (2018)
* Art Market and Connoisseurship (2008)
* First Woman to Become a Master Painter (2008)
* Frans Hals or not Frans Hals: Connoisseurship, Technical Analyses and Digital Tools (2025)

## Selected articles

* "Supplementing the Eye: The Technical Analysis of Frans Hals's Paintings – I", in: Burlington Magazine 161 (2019), pp. 934–941.
* 'The New York Malle Babbe: Original, Studio Work, or Forgery?” In Frans Hals: Iconography – Technique – Reputation, edited by Norbert E. Middelkoop and Rudi E.O. Ekkart, 130–54. Amsterdam University Press, 2024. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.22135982.12.

## Research and grants

Tummers heads and co-heads several research projects funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. Her European Research Council-funded project has been particularly influential, advancing the field of forgery detection while shedding light on the historical art market and the evolution of artistic techniques, alongside others:
* Frans Hals/Not Frans Hals: A project investigating the criteria for attributing paintings to Frans Hals and exploring new methods in art authentication.
* 21st Century Connoisseurship: A collaboration with Professor Robert Erdmann, focusing on developing advanced technical and digital tools for analyzing seventeenth-century paintings.
* ArtDetect: A project aimed at developing new ways to detect forgeries, supported by the Centre for Global Heritage and Development and the Scientific Advisory Board of IPERION HS.

## Exhibitions

Tummers has curated and contributed to several exhibitions at the Frans Hals Museum, including:
* Celebrating in the Golden Age
* The Art of Laughter: Humour in the Dutch Golden Age
* Frans Hals: Eye to Eye with Rembrandt, Rubens, and Titian (2013), celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Frans Hals Museum.