Automate, a brief history of automatons from Antiquity to the Fée Ondine

Author Nicholas Foulkes, translation Nathalie Chapuis, Editions Xavier Barral

The history of automatons is intimately linked to the emergence and then the development of watchmaking over the centuries, to the mastery of time and to mechanical science.

Fabulous objects that are both scientific and magical, these clocks testify to the technical research and inventiveness of their creators. Men of medicine, theater, thinkers of the modern world: all look at these automatons more and more in the image of man, veritable simulacra of life. Continuing this story, Van Cleef & Arpels has called on the talents of some twenty of the most expert craftsmen in their field - including Sainte-Croix automatist François Junod - to create the Fée Ondine automaton.

The English writer and journalist Nicholas Foulkes devotes a book to the history of automatons and to the creation of Ondine, this exceptional automaton.

Video on the making of the Ondine automaton https://theeyeofjewelry.com/watches/automate-fee-ondine-ode-imaginery

To buy the book "Automate" https://www.payot.ch/Detail/automate-nicholas_foulkes-9782365111089