IGNAZ-MARCEL GAUGENGIGL (Passau, Bavaria 1855 – Boston 1932)
The Dandy
signed in the upper right I.M. Gaugengigl, and inscribed on the original backing I.M.
Gaugengigl 1905, “the Irresistable”
oil on panel
11 x 7 inches (28 x 19 cm)
PROVENANCE
Frederick Winslow Taylor (formulator of the industrial philosophy of Scientific
Management) and thus by descent to his son
Robert Potter Aiken Taylor who donated it to an
East Coast institution who deacessioned it in 2000
Gaugengigl was Bavarian by birth, the son of a professor of Oriental languages. He was trained in Munich at the Royal Academy beginning in 1874, working with Johann Raab and Wilhelm von Diez. After studies in Italy and Paris, Gaugengigl came to Boston by 1878. His meticulous, small-scale work and ornate historical subject matter soon earned him the nickname “the Meissonier of America”. He exhibited work at the Guild of Boston Artists and the St. Botolph Club with great success. Gaugengigl was a highly regarded social figure and connections brought him lucrative portrait commissions. Beginning in the mid-1890s, he depicted many prominent Bostonians in both small panel pictures and occasionally larger canvases. He was on the Council of the Museum School for twenty years as well as one of the directors of the Guild of Boston Artists.