Automaton: On Her Majesty’s Service

1778. France. Versailles. The cream of French society has gathered at the Théâtre de la Reine. All eyes are fixed on the stage, where a girl of ten or twelve, dressed in the latest fashion, sits at a harpsichord. Her fingers glide across the keys, drawing out the melody of “Au clair de la lune” — a tune familiar to every peasant.

The dim glow of candelabras, the scent of wax, the rustle of silk — you sink into this reverie. But a treacherous thought stirs in the back of your mind: “What if none of this is real?”…

And you have no idea how right you are.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 18th century — the age of horror and the “uncanny valley.”

The Bloody Show at the Weaver’s House

«In reality, everything is quite different from what it actually is.» Stanisław Jerzy Lec

«The foreground represents a flower garden, elegantly finished with the facade of a building; beyond lies a Swiss landscape surrounded by sheer cliffs. This landscape, dotted with plants, bushes, and a few small trees, features a peasant’s cottage, a mill, a waterfall, and a stream. The pastoral scene consists of a shepherd, a shepherdess, sheep and goats seen grazing or heard bleating, a cow chewing its cud, a calf nursing from it, and a dog guarding the flock.

The action of this scene begins with a peasant emerging from the cottage on his donkey, crossing the landscape and heading toward the mill to load flour. As he passes, the shepherd dog barks several times, so naturally that many real dogs were fooled by its voice; shortly thereafter, a shepherd appears, emerging from a cave in the rock; he stops, raises his flute to his lips, and plays a little prelude, which is echoed back to him; then, noticing his shepherdess sleeping on the other side of the cave, he approaches her and plays a gentle melody to wake her; the shepherdess awakens, sits up, looks at him, takes her guitar, which she had been holding loosely on her lap, and plays a duet with her shepherd until, interrupted by the peasant’s unexpected return, the shepherd quickly bows and withdraws into the shepherdess’s grotto; the latter, showing no sign, returns to her former pose, and then the peasant is seen walking back to his cottage, leading his donkey laden with a sack of flour.»

Journal encyclopédique

“What a charming pastoral,” some will say. “Surely this is a description of a stage setting by Jean-François Regnard?” others will suggest.

What if I told you that you are all mistaken? What if I told you that this entire marvel was made by human hands?

Those who have been reading me for a while already understand. Those who are here for the first time are still in the dark. Let us continue.

Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History

“The second figure represents a child of two or three years old, sitting on a stool and drawing various little scenes on a music stand placed before it. This automaton cleanly executes various drawings: first, it sketches the outlines in pencil, using both bold and fine strokes; then it adds shading, and finally retouches its work; to do this, it occasionally moves its hand away, as if to better see what it is doing. The various movements of its eyes and hand accurately imitate nature.”

Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History

The third figure was not to be found in the Journal encyclopédique. I happened upon its description in another source — the St. Petersburg Vedomosti, dated March 21, 1777.

St. Petersburg Vedomosti, March 21, 1777

“A figure representing a child of two years old, who, while seated, writes on paper. This doll dips its pen in ink by itself, shakes off the excess, and writes distinctly and correctly whatever is told to it, without any external contact whatsoever.” — Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti

Four mechanical toys driven by clockwork designed by Pierre Jacquet-Droz

One can only imagine the sensation caused by this exhibition, staged by Mr. Lefchot on the Rue de Bondy in Paris. The journalist’s vivid pen doesn’t just add color — it burns the image straight into the brain. You see the shepherdess raising her flute to her lips, the peasant leading his donkey, the breath of the one who cannot breathe. You are there. You are in the audience. And you love it.

So why should these three sweet children make us feel fear? Why should these dolls frighten us?

Perhaps because they are too much like us? Or because we are too much like them?

These are the three Jaquet-Droz automata

“Fear is the body’s natural reaction when we don’t know where the threat is coming from. Perfectly ordinary things start to seem deeply unsettling — especially those that look like a small child.” — Topa, [Utopia Show]

Topa, [Utopia Show], “The Annabelle Doll”

Produced by: Pavel Kubin — research, writing, design DeepSeek — translation from French, references

If you’d like to see more of it — including translations, archival finds, and stories that never made it into textbooks — you can support it right here.

Les mécanismes des automates Jaquet-Droz

Further Reading

From the Golden Age of Automata in the 18th and 19th centuries to today, animated human and animal figures have both fascinated and unsettled their audiences. In this article, Harry Pearson traces their colorful lineage.

The creation of android automata in late 18th-century Europe.

Exhibition of Spectacular Mechanics — or the Mechanics of Jaquet-Droz.

(On the Nature of) CREEPINESS *Francis T. McAndrew and Sara S. Koehnke

Sources & Glossary

Four mechanical toys driven by clockwork designed by Pierre Jacquet Droz

Journal encyclopédique

The three Jaquet-Droz automata number among the Museum’s showpieces.

Topa, [Utopia Show] «The Annabelle Doll»

Au clair de la lune

Les mécanismes des automates Jaquet-Droz

Automaton — a mechanical device designed to imitate the movements of a living being. In the 18th century, automata represented the pinnacle of engineering.

Jaquet-Droz, Pierre — Swiss watchmaker and inventor, creator of the famous automata.

Leschot, Jean-Frédéric — mechanic and partner of Jaquet-Droz, who accompanied the automata on their European tour.

Journal encyclopédique — a French scientific and literary journal published from 1756 to 1793, covering news in science, technology, and culture.

**Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti **— one of the oldest Russian newspapers.

“Au clair de la lune” — a traditional French folk song known since the 18th century.

Uncanny valley — the hypothesis that an object which closely resembles a human being evokes fear or discomfort in the observer.

**Topa (Yevgeny Popadanets)** — Russian blogger, author, and creator of the YouTube channel Utopia Show. The channel focuses on the history of popular myths surrounding mysterious phenomena and debunking well-known conspiracy theories.