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

Anna is actually Wolfgang’s second wife; his first marriage, to a noblewoman named Francziska Piani, lasted only two months. Francziska died of a stomach obstruction, and it’s said that he disappeared into his workshop for years out of grief, distracting himself by learning woodworking, clockmaking, and dozens of other skills that he would eventually use to build the automaton.

Five years after Francziska’s death, he married Anna Maria Gobelius. Despite their best efforts, their first three children didn’t survive infancy — so Theresa and Karl must’ve been the apples of their parents’ eyes.