Clockwork Game: The Illustrious Career of a Chess-Playing Automaton

I couldn’t quite tell from the historical texts how closely von Kempelen allowed his audience to inspect the automaton, but most reports seem to agree that he allowed people to examine it as closely as they liked. Later it tended to be kept further apart from the crowds, but for the purpose of this scene, I wanted to show the court giving it a thorough inspection. Karl Gottlieb von Windisch, a compatriot of von Kempelen and one of the first to publish reports of The Turk, wrote

“I was not, as you may imagine, one of the most backward in my scrutinizing inspection. I did not neglect the least corner: and nevertheless, finding no possibility of its concealing anything the size of my hat, my self-love was terribly hurt at seeing a conjecture vanish, which at first appeared to me so ingenious.”

The quotes from the audience — and their costumes — represent Europe’s growing fascination with all things Turkish. From clothing to coffee to opera, Vienna couldn’t seem to get enough Turquerie, so the automaton would’ve been the absolute height of fashion and culture.