George Harold Edgell

George Harold Edgell (March 4, 1887 – June 29, 1954) was a renowned American architectural and fine arts historian, author, and expert on Sienese paintings. He served as dean of the Harvard University School of Architecture and director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

Biography George Harold Edgell was born on March 4, 1887, in St. Louis, Missouri, to George Stephen Edgell and Isabella Wallace Corbin. His maternal grandfather was Austin Corbin, a prominent American banking and railroad entrepreneur. Edgell prepared for college at the Cutler School in New York City and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1909 with a Bachelor of Arts. From 1910 to 1912, he was a fellow in Classical studies & archaeology at the American School of Classical Studies in Rome, where he was awarded the prestigious Rome Prize. Upon his return to the United States in 1913, Edgell became the first person to receive a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Harvard University.

Edgell became an instructor in fine arts at Harvard, specializing in Italian Renaissance art, after returning from Italy. In 1913, he pioneered the first course in the United States on Central Italian painters. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1914, associate professor in 1922, and full professor in 1925. In 1922, Edgell was appointed dean of the Harvard School of Architecture, succeeding Charles Wilson Killam who was acting dean following the death of Harold Langford Warren. In 1935, Edgell resigned from his professorship at Harvard to become curator of paintings at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1939. Additionally, he was named director of the museum in 1935, a role he held until his death in 1954.

Family and death On June 13, 1914, in Barrytown, New York, Edgell married Jean Walters Delano, daughter of Warren Delano IV. They had three children: George Harold Edgell Jr., Delano Edgell, and Henry Walters Edgell. George Harold Edgell died in Newport, New Hampshire on June 29, 1954, following a brief illness. He was buried in North Newport Cemetery.

Works 1918 – A History of Architecture with Fiske Kimball 1928 – The American Architecture of To-Day 1932 – A History of Sienese Painting 1949 – The Bee Hunter