Shop 14 new museum-quality ART on Demand prints from Mary Cassatt at Work.
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STAFF RECOMMENDS
“Welcome to the bleeding edge of technology and artificial intelligence—from the year 1562! This study of ‘The Monk’, a sixteenth-century clockwork figure that simulates a Franciscan friar, examines the early automaton’s role as a mechanical curiosity and an artificial human. An oddly fascinating (and just a little bit creepy) account of the religious robots of the Renaissance.”
- Tim \ Book & Media Manager
The walking, gesticulating figure of a friar, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, is among the earliest extant ancestors of the self-propelled robot. According to legend connected to the court of Philip II of Spain, the monk represents a portrait of Diego de Alcalá, a humble Franciscan lay brother whose holy corpse was said to be agent to the miraculous cure of Spain’s crown prince as he lay dying in 1562. Hardcover, 256 pages.Museum members receive 10% off all items from our museum stores, including sale items and custom Art on Demand prints.
Every purchase in our stores directly support the collections and exhibitions of the de Young and Legion of Honor museums.