The Gem of the Cultural District Gets its Due

A Franklin Cultural District gem is getting some special attention. Continuing through Dec. 20, the Franklin Public Library is hosting Tommaso Juglaris: Visions of a Master, An Exhibition. Tommaso Juglaris is the painter of the library's famous mural A Grecian Festival and the five-panel frieze, “The Hours.” He also had a lengthy career in Europe and the US across many forms, including stained glass. But the mural in the library are indisputably his most ambitious work.

Indeed, the room-filling mural was at one time reputed to be the largest mural in North America. In addition, as part of the Exhibition, a series of curated posters and images explain the career and broader artwork of Juglaris during his productive life, which ended a century ago, in 1925.

The exhibit kicked off last month with a special event that included a presentation by art conservator Gianfranco Pocobene, who has worked to restore the art of Juglaris in Franklin as well as in other locations across the nation. Also speaking at length at the event was Juglaris scholar Dr. Geoffrey Drutchas, who traveled from Michigan to share his knowledge in Franklin.

Above, an image of the friezes at the library and the artist's signature in the insert.

Drutchas noted that despite awards and accolades during his career, Juglaris’ work has faded from the collective memory in part because he was Italian at a time when Italians in America were associated in the popular imagination with anarchists and other controversial creeds. As a result, Juglaris’ extensive works in the dome of the Michigan State Capitol building were deliberately misattributed for a century to avoid controversy, but denying him credit for his tremendous accomplishment hurt his prospects for further projects. And late in his career, in the 1920s, anti-immigrant animus kept him back in his native land.

But during the time when the Ray sisters of Franklin contemplated building the library as a memorial to their parents, the climate was somewhat better, indeed, one of the twin Ray homes, formerly located just to the east of the library, had been done over in Italianate style following a trip made to Italy.

The rest of the story is that Henry Hammond Gallison (usually known just as H.H. Gallison), who had strong family ties to the Franklin area had the vision. A trained medical doctor and lawyer, Gallison also took up painting later in life and became part of the Cape Ann art scene along with friend and mentor, Tommaso Juglaris – with his growing international reputation.

It so happened that Gallison’s circle in the Franklin area included the Ray sisters, Lydia Ray Peirce and Annie Ray Thayer. It was his design ideas for the library – modeling the structure as a neoclassical parthenon – that set the architect on the path to creating the familiar structure we know today.

Gallison also concerned himself with the art that would go into his temple of learning, and was instrumental in engaging Juglaris to create the huge classically themed murals

According to Dr. Drutchas, Juglaris would likely have been considered as a muralist for the then new McKim, White, & Mead Boston Public Library but for his Italian heritage – so he jumped at the opportunity to display his capabilities in Franklin.

Nor is the library the only place in town with Juglaris associations. The Franklin Federated Church has a large religious image painted by Juglaris over their fireplace and a smaller work at the Franklin Historical Museum, a portrait of an Italian stone mason, has been attributed to him.

Juglaris, the exhibition at the Franklin Public Library is free and available during regular open hours, namely Mon. to Thurs. 9 to 8 and Friday and Saturday, 9 to 5. The library is closed on Sundays.