įrom that point on, he became very interested in the art. From those crude volumes, he learned the rudiments of magic. Instead of returning the books, his curiosity got the better of him. When he got home and opened the wrapping, instead of the Berthoud books, what appeared before his eyes was a two-volume set on magic called Scientific Amusements. He would go on to pursue the craft of clockmaking for the rest of his life, and is widely credited with inventing the mystery clock. In the mid-1820s, he saved up to buy a copy of a two-volume set of books on clockmaking called Traité de l'horlogerie ("Treatise on Clockmaking"), written by Ferdinand Berthoud. For a short time, Jean-Eugène worked as a watchmaker. He was told that he was better suited as a watchmaker than a lawyer, but by then, Jean's father had already retired, so he became an apprentice to his cousin who had a watch-shop. His employer sent him back to his father. Instead of studying law, he tinkered with mechanical gadgets. His penmanship was excellent, and it landed him a job as a clerk for an attorney's office. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, but Robert-Houdin wanted to follow into his father's footsteps as a watchmaker. At 18, he graduated and returned to Blois. At the age of eleven, Prosper sent his son Jean-Eugène to school thirty-five miles up the Loire to the University of Orléans. Jean-Eugene's mother, the former Marie-Catherine Guillon, died when he was just a young child.
His father, Prosper Robert, was a watchmaker in Blois. Robert-Houdin was born Jean-Eugène Robert in Blois, France, on 7 December 1805-a day after his autobiography said he was.
He transformed magic from a pastime for the lower classes, seen at fairs, to an entertainment for the wealthy, which he offered in a theatre opened in Paris, a legacy preserved by the tradition of modern magicians performing in tails.Įarly life and entrance into conjuring Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (7 December 1805 – 13 June 1871) was a French watchmaker, magician and illusionist, widely recognized as the father of the modern style of conjuring. Josèphe Cecile Houdin (1830–1843 her death) François Marguerite Olympe Braconnier (1844–1871 his death) Magician, illusionist, inventor, author, and clockmaker
0 kommentar(er)
