In 1886, the press announced the completion of the Michigan State Capitol's crowning glory with modest fanfare, noting only that the eight allegorical figures in the dome had been “done by the best artist of his kind in the United States.”

Why did this Midwestern state choose Greek Muses for its new Capitol? Why was it so reticent about naming “the best artist?” And who was Tommaso Juglaris—the Italian immigrant who painted the figures in his Boston studio and never came to Michigan? The answers are to be found in Tommaso Juglaris: A Capitol Artist, appearing in the Michigan Historical Museum's first-floor special exhibits gallery from October 12, 2004, through January 9, 2005.

Tommaso Juglaris was born in Moncalieri, Italy, in 1844. He studied in Turin and Paris. In 1881, he immigrated to Boston to serve as the head artist for the Louis Prang lithography firm. After a short tenure at Prang, he began accepting commissions in the Boston area and teaching at art schools in Boston and Providence. Juglaris never became an American citizen. After the deaths of his wife and his infant daughter, he returned to Italy, where he died in 1925.

Cooperating with the museum in presenting the exhibit are the Michigan Capitol Committee and the Famija Moncalereisa, a cultural heritage organization in Juglaris's birthplace. Moncalieri is located near Turin, the automotive capital of Italy and sister city to Detroit.

The exhibit will, for the first time, give Michiganians an appreciation of the artist who created the Capitol Muses by exhibiting some 50 paintings and drawings, most loaned from Italy. Among them are the sketches for four of the Muses found in the papers of Juglaris in Moncalieri. Other highlights include two self-portraits, cover designs for exhibition catalogs of the Boston Art Club and the sketches that won Juglaris an instructorship in drawing, also at the Boston Art Club. Decorative designs for the walls and ceilings of several residences and preliminary sketches for stained glass windows will also be shown, along with a large transparency of one of the windows. Juglaris himself will come to life through quotations, presented in Italian and English, from a 400-page autobiography he completed late in his life.

Tommaso Juglaris: A Capitol Artist is sponsored, in part, by the Friends of Michigan History and the Friends of the Capitol. Find out about the Friends of Michigan History mission, membership and benefits.

Tour the Michigan Historical Museum's online gallery of selected special exhibits.

The Michigan Historical Museum is located inside the Michigan Library and Historical Center, 702 West Kalamazoo Street, Lansing. The museum and visitor parking are on the north side of Kalamazoo Street, two blocks east of M. L. King Boulevard. Here's more information on how to find us.