Editing Matthias Buchinger

{{Short description|German artist, magician, calligrapher and performer}}
{{Infobox person
 | name              = Matthias Buchinger
 | image             = matthewbuchinger.jpg
 | caption           = [[Self portrait]]
 | birth_name        = 
 | birth_date        = {{Birth date|1674|6|2}}
 | birth_place       = [[Ansbach]], [[Principality of Ansbach]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] 
 | death_date        = {{death date and age|1740|1|17|1674|6|2}}
 | death_place       = [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[Kingdom of Ireland]]
 | death_cause       = 
 | nationality       = German
 | other_names       = 
 | known_for         = 
 | education         = 
 | occupation        = [[Artist]], [[magic (illusion)|magician]], [[calligrapher]]
 | title             = 
 | height            = 
}}

'''Matthias Buchinger''' ({{IPA|de|maˈtiːas ˈbʊxɪŋɐ|lang}}; June 2, 1674 – January 17, 1740), sometimes called '''Matthew Buckinger''' in English, was a German [[Mouth and foot painting|artist]], [[Magic (illusion)|magician]], [[Calligraphy|calligrapher]], and performer who was born without hands or feet and was {{convert|2|ft|5|in|cm|abbr=on}}.) tall.<ref name=penny>{{cite news|url=http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/BuchingerDPJ1-44/index.php |title=Matthew Buchinger  |accessdate=2009-06-03 |date=April 27, 1833 |publisher=[[Dublin Penny Journal]] at the [[National Library of Ireland]] }}</ref> Buchinger was especially noted for his [[micrography]], in which illustrations consist of very small text.<ref name = nyt/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Morse |first=Erik |date=2016-03-17 |title=The Little Man of Nuremberg |url=https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/03/17/the-little-man-of-nuremberg/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=The Paris Review |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
Buchinger was born in [[Ansbach]], [[Germany]], without hands or legs, now considered to be [[Phocomelia]]. An artist and performer, he "traveled all over Northern Europe to entertain kings and aristocrats as well as [[hoi polloi]] with amazing feats of physical dexterity" and was known as “The Greatest German Living” and "Little Man from [[Nuremberg]]".<ref name = nyt>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/arts/design/astounding-feats-in-pen-ink-and-magnifying-glass.html | author= Ken Johnson | title = Astounding Feats in Pen, Ink and Magnifying Glass | work= The New York Times | date = January 14, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://thehumanmarvels.com/?p=22| author=J. T. Penaud| title=Human Marvels:Matthew Buchinger – The Little Man of Nuremberg | date=29 March 2006|accessdate=March 18, 2011}}</ref> He travelled to England trying to get a court appointment with [[George I of Great Britain|King George&nbsp;I]]; unsuccessful, he then moved to Ireland where he gave public demonstrations, in [[Dublin]] in 1720 and in [[Belfast]] in 1722. He also is rumored to have had children by as many as 70 mistresses.<ref name=holbrook/><ref name=jay>{{cite news |first=Ricky |last=Jay |author-link=Ricky Jay |title=Desperately Seeking Susan  |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/02/opinion/02jay.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 1, 2009  |accessdate=2009-06-03 }}</ref> Buchinger's fame was so widespread that in the 1780s the term "Buckinger's boot" existed in England as a euphemism for the [[vagina]] (because the only "limb" he had was his [[Human penis|penis]]).<ref name=grose>{{cite book | last=Grose | first=Francis | author-link=Francis Grose | title=The Vulgar Tongue | year=1785 | publisher=S. Hooper | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4HoSAAAAIAAJ}}</ref> Buchinger died in [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland.

[[Image:Lordsprayercurls.jpg|thumb|right|The detailed writing embedded in the engraving]]

Despite his having small, finlike appendages for hands, his engravings were incredibly detailed. One such engraving, a self-portrait, was so detailed that a close examination of the curls of his hair revealed that they were in fact seven biblical psalms and the [[Lord's Prayer]], inscribed in miniature letters.<ref name=holbrook>{{cite book |last=Jackson |first=Holbrook  |author-link=Holbrook Jackson|title=The Anatomy of Bibliomania |year=2001 |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |quote=Matthew Buchinger, who possessed neither hands nor legs, yet he married four times, ... the lines being composed of seven Psalms and the Lord's Prayer. ... | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7bCKiySFULUC |isbn=0-252-07043-7 }}</ref>

Buchinger was also an accomplished magician, causing balls to disappear from under cups and birds to appear from nowhere. It also was said that he was unbeatable at cards and would dazzle audiences with his amazing displays of [[marksmanship]]. Buchinger made (or mended) the oldest existing model in a bottle in 1719. It is a model of miners underground and can be seen in [[Snowshill Manor]] [https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1333094.1]. He had tremendous [[dexterity]], in spite of his disability.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kraven|first=Vlad|title=Time Travel Part 1: Matthew Buchinger|url=http://vladkraven.com/matthew-buchinger/|work=Magician|accessdate=26 April 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901170613/http://vladkraven.com/matthew-buchinger/|archivedate=1 September 2011}}</ref>

Buchinger's musical skills included the ability to play a half-dozen musical instruments including the [[dulcimer]], [[hautboy]], [[trumpet]], and [[flute]] and several of his own invention.<ref name=jay/>

==Family ==
Buchinger was married four times and had 14 children.<ref name="Dubonis">{{cite web|last1=Ragauskas|first1=Aivas|title=Paul, the Wonder Boy from Vokė|url=https://ldkistorija.lt/stories/cities/paul-the-wonder-boy-from-voke/|access-date=6 September 2021|website=LDKistorija.lt|publisher=[[Vilnius University]]}}</ref> His first three wives (Elsche Shoomaker, Margeth Afsawein, Ann Catharin Kemchmeyer) all died shortly after giving birth and his fourth wife, Ann Elizabeth Teys outlived him.

==Legacy ==
The [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] presented 16 of his graphic works in a historical show entitled, “Wordplay: Matthias Buchinger’s Drawings From the Collection of [[Ricky Jay]]”.<ref>Schjeldahl, Peter, [http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/seeing-and-believing-the-art-world-peter-schjeldahl "Seeing and Believing: the mysteries of Matthias Buchinger"], ''The New Yorker'', January 25, 2016</ref> Jay, a [[magic (illusion)|magician]] and "collector of antique marvels", tracked down Buchinger's works for more than 30 years. He chronicled his pursuit of all things Buchinger in a book called ''Matthias Buchinger: ‘The Greatest German Living’ by Ricky Jay, Whose Peregrinations in Search of the ‘Little Man of Nuremberg’ Are Herein Revealed''.<ref name=newyorker>{{cite news| url = http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/01/25/seeing-and-believing-the-art-world-peter-schjeldahl | magazine = The New Yorker | author = Peter Schjeldahl | title = Seeing and Believing: The Mysteries of Matthias Buchinger| date =  January 25, 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Micrography]]
*[[Phocomelia]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
{{commons category}}
*[[James Randi|Randi, James]]. ''Conjuring''. (1992) {{ISBN|0-312-09771-9}}
*[[David Blaine|Blaine, David]]. ''Mysterious Stranger''. (2002) {{ISBN|0-7522-1989-8}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchinger, Matthias}}
[[Category:1674 births]]
[[Category:1740 deaths]]
[[Category:German people with disabilities]]
[[Category:German calligraphers]]
[[Category:German magicians]]
[[Category:Mouth and foot painting artists]]
[[Category:People with phocomelia]]