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1/
Video extract : 56
K or 512
K (with Windows Media Player)
(Introduction of the little magician automaton by the Maillardet brothers).
2/ Video extract : 56
K or 512
K (with Windows Media Player)
(Introduction of the great magician automaton by the Maillardet brother).
These extracts are coming from the film "The
Jaquet-Droz androids".
This film and many others about automatons and androids
are available in english version on our online
shop.
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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 |
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.
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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 |
"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."
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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 |
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.
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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 |
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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
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The android nowadays
Photo : Research Museum |
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."
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The 4 drawings and the famous page of writing
made by the Maillardet android |
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