{"id":95736,"date":"2016-03-18T15:29:39","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T19:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=95736"},"modified":"2016-03-18T15:52:50","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T19:52:50","slug":"automaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/","title":{"rendered":"Automaton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nITEU4fsqCU\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Paris\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arts-et-metiers.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mus\u00e9e des Arts and M\u00e9tiers<\/a>, which reopened in 2000, is an age-of-reason triumph\u2014it\u2019s even on the site of an old priory. Devoted to inventions of all kinds, it\u2019s divided into sections like\u00a0Materials, Energy, Mechanics, Construction, and Scientific Instruments. It\u2019s an interesting place, but it is not the best place to see the famed automaton of\u00a0Marie Antoinette, playing the dulcimer.\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Marie Antoinette, playing the dulcimer, does indeed live chez Arts et M\u00e9tiers. But like most of the antique automata in their collection, she performs only very occasionally. Usually she sits, immobile, in a darkened room. When I last visited, they showed a rather dated and peculiar film in which\u2014in case it wasn\u2019t already creepy enough\u2014the various automata played to the sounds of eerie music, and a voice-over spoke about dreams. At one point a sinister Svengali-like automaton (notable for its absence in the actual museum) says, in English, \u201cWhat is real \u2026 and what illusion?!\u201d A poor German tourist literally shook the door in her attempt to escape this. But the rest of us, I think, were glad to see these engineering marvels in action.<\/p>\n<p>In an age when we\u2019re used to TV and even virtual reality, automata are still marvelous, their engineering remarkable. It is hard to imagine how miraculous they must have seemed in the eighteenth century. Marie Antoinette is particularly amazing: not only is her mannequin exquisite and her dulcimer repertory extensive, but she moves her head and shifts her gaze. The effect is, if not precisely lifelike, certainly uncanny.<\/p>\n<p>The automaton was the work of a famed German cabinetmaker David Roentgen. His work was known for its incredible intricacy and its ingenious hidden drawers and panels; the Bourbons were his official patrons. In\u00a01784, he presented Louis XVI\u2014a mechanical enthusiast\u2014with this model of his wife, and miraculously it survived the events that were to follow, even as Roentgen\u2019s career did not. You may exit as you wish in the event of terror.<\/p>\n<p><em>Sadie Stein is contributing editor of\u00a0<\/em>The Paris Review<em>, and the\u00a0<\/em>Daily<em>\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paris\u2019s Mus\u00e9e des Arts and M\u00e9tiers, which reopened in 2000, is an age-of-reason triumph\u2014it\u2019s even on the site of an old priory. Devoted to inventions of all kinds, it\u2019s divided into sections like\u00a0Materials, Energy, Mechanics, Construction, and Scientific Instruments. It\u2019s an interesting place, but it is not the best place to see the famed automaton [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[21589,21590,21593,21591,21592,1263,21588,46],"class_list":["post-95736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-age-of-reason","tag-automatons","tag-david-roentgen","tag-dulcimers","tag-illusions","tag-marie-antoinette","tag-musee-des-arts-and-metiers","tag-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Visiting the Automaton of Marie Antoinette<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s every bit as uncanny and creepy as you can expect\u2014dulcimer and all.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Automaton by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March 18, 2016 \u2013 Paris\u2019s Mus\u00e9e des Arts and M\u00e9tiers, which reopened in 2000, is an age-of-reason triumph\u2014it\u2019s even on the site of an old priory. Devoted to inventions of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sadie Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\"},\"headline\":\"Automaton\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Age of Reason\",\"automatons\",\"David Roentgen\",\"dulcimers\",\"illusions\",\"Marie-Antoinette\",\"Musee des Arts and Metiers\",\"music\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Our Daily Correspondent\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\",\"name\":\"Visiting the Automaton of Marie Antoinette\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"It\u2019s every bit as uncanny and creepy as you can expect\u2014dulcimer and all.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Automaton\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9\",\"name\":\"Sadie Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sadie Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Visiting the Automaton of Marie Antoinette","description":"It\u2019s every bit as uncanny and creepy as you can expect\u2014dulcimer and all.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Automaton by Sadie Stein","og_description":"March 18, 2016 \u2013 Paris\u2019s Mus\u00e9e des Arts and M\u00e9tiers, which reopened in 2000, is an age-of-reason triumph\u2014it\u2019s even on the site of an old priory. Devoted to inventions of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sadie Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sadie Stein","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/"},"author":{"name":"Sadie Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9"},"headline":"Automaton","datePublished":"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/"},"wordCount":355,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Age of Reason","automatons","David Roentgen","dulcimers","illusions","Marie-Antoinette","Musee des Arts and Metiers","music"],"articleSection":["Our Daily Correspondent"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/","name":"Visiting the Automaton of Marie Antoinette","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-03-18T19:29:39+00:00","dateModified":"2016-03-18T19:52:50+00:00","description":"It\u2019s every bit as uncanny and creepy as you can expect\u2014dulcimer and all.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/automaton\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Automaton"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a1aef49f81bfc540a37e03590f3bb4d9","name":"Sadie Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/147299ffa10db51f1ff44a626a9211650a1c11f8fc07d102ab48e63ab3be037b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sadie Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/sstein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95736"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95743,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95736\/revisions\/95743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}