The magicians and seers automatons by the Maillardet
brothers
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The Maillardet brothers
are known for their magicians and other seers ornating
pendulums. The most famous ones are certainly the great and the little
magician, which can be admired in the International Museum
of Watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds. |
The little magician automaton
by the Maillardet brothers
Photo : International Museum of horology
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The Maillardet brothers (Jaques-Rodolphe,
Henri and Jean David), who were rural, always lived in the shadow
of the Jaquet-Droz. They were their apprentices, their suppliers
of bird mechanisms and even their partners. They lived in the
little village called Fontaines, and between 1808 and 1840,
they built a whole series of magicians, driven by the glory
of the illustrious makers from Neuchâtel. |
The great magician automaton
by the Maillardet brothers
Photo : International Museum of horology
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Alfred Chapuis and Fridolin Wiget
describe the great magician in the following way : |
The great magician, an automaton created by the Maillardet brothers
Photo : International Museum of horology
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"The great magician by the Maillardet brothers
wears the pointed hat and the sumptuous dress which illusionists
and conjurers wore before Robert-Houdin. His long and curly
beard makes him look majestic and his expression is solemn.
On his right side, there is a table covered with a carpet,
on which several objects of quite mysterious appearance are
placed. He is sat on a chair placed in the back of the pendulum,
at the right side of a platform. The golden pedestal (40cm
high and 50cm wide) of this platform is formed by the pendulum
and contains music.
Our character holds a book in his left hand
and a stick in his other one. At the top of the pedestal,
there is a drawer in which the cross-examination takes place
thanks to one
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out of the twelve plates, on which the questions are written. If
you close the drawer without any question in it, the dignified seer
will content himself to nod negatively. But if the question can
be found in the drawer, which is then completely pushed back, the
magician fidgets, gets up majestically, rolls his eyes, and then
brandishes his stick towards a little oval window, situated on the
right side, above his head. The two hinged sections open suddenly
and the answer appears.
Having consulted the correctness of the answer, the magician makes
several gestures again, and then sits down again very spontaneously.
While this scene is taking place, two tulips, situated at the corners
of the platform, bloom, and then close on slowly.
What is pleasant to see is the chain of all the movements and
gestures which are made very naturally, without a clash. They do
not seem mechanical, as it can be noticed with other automatons."
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Example of questions-answers : |
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- What is the food of the soul ?
- What is the most useful economy ?
- What is the noblest purpose of science ?
- How must morality be considered ?
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- Truth and justice.
- The economy of time.
- To reveal ignorance.
- As soul hygiene.
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"The little magician stands on a platform,
in front of a pediment decorated with garlands, which surround
two chubby musician children. The mechanism contained in the
pedestal is entirely visible through a mirror. The character's
functions and movements are identical to those of the previous
play. The answer is written down in the grille that we can
see on the upper part. If we forget to put the answer into
the drawer given to this use, the seer keeps still, but on
his right side, an imp appears and, with many gesticulations,
makes us understand that the oracle has nothing to answer." |
The little magician, an automaton
created by the Maillardet brothers
Photo : International Museum of horology
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"Those are two examples of the
ten questions asked in French to the "little magician" and of his
answers : |
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Q : Where does the evil thought come from ?
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A : From idleness.
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Q : What does the woman lose by exchanging
modesty for self-assurance ?
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A : Half of her charms."
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The writer-draughtsman, an automaton by the Maillardet brothers
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In a publication dated from 1812, the Encyclopaedia
of Edinburgh, reveals the existence of an automaton representing
a writer and draughtsman, made by the Maillardet brothers:
"Maillardet made an automaton which can write and draw. The
figure represents a child who is kneeling down and holding
a brush in its hand. |
The mechanism of the writer-draughtsman, an automaton by the
Maillardet brothers
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When it begins to work, its brush
dips into ink. A sheet ofpaper is added on a table made of bronze
in order to draw. When a string is touched, the figure starts to write
and when the line is ended, its hand comes to write the necessary
letters again. In that way, she does four beautiful pieces written
in French and English and three landscapes within one hour, or so." |
Today, people can see the automaton
in the Research Museum in the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia. An
old letter written by a former director, Mister Thomas Coulson, reveals
the story of this automaton : "One day, an inhabitant of the city
told us that his family owned |
an automaton which could draw various figures
and write verses. He was not very clear about details because
the mechanism had not functioned since a few years. But several
pieces of fragments permitted to realize that the automaton
was valuable. Its owner thought that the mechanism was |
The android nowadays
Photo : Research Museum
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the work of Maelzel, the metronome inventor.
At last, the house which contained the automaton had been destroyed
during a fire,and the work was so damaged that people could
not realize anymore how great its functioning had been . The
automaton was justa pile of cams and gears." |
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"However, the Museum committee,
extremely interested by the remaining fragments of the drawings, decided
to purchase the damaged mechanism to try to rebuild it.
One of the Franklin Museum's technicians undertook the rebuilding,
and, after several months of hard work, reached to completely start
it up.
This technician was Charles Roberts and was very proud of his success
: he considered this success to be the most important in his life
as a practitioner."
"Once the mechanism worked, we heard from the automaton itself
that it had been created by Maillardet, and not by Maelzel. Indeed,
we saw that one of the stanzas in verse had the following signature
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"written by the automaton made by Maillardet".
This allowed us to identify him… We also noticed,
to our embarrassment, that we had
made him change gender, because, instead
of a little boy, he had become
a little girl." |
The 4 drawings and the famous page of writing
made by the Maillardet android
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