Gianello della Torre (c. 1500 – 13 June 1585) was an Italian

clockmaker A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly t ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. He was born in

Cremona Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

Name

The name of Gianello della Torre comes in a number of variations. His original name was Janello Torresani. His given name was long thought to be derived from Giovanni, but is in fact unrelated. Its etymology is uncertain. In the form Ianellus, it was the name of Gianello's grandfather. The form Zanello is also attested. In some sources, his first name appears as Lionello, Leonello, Leo or Giano. His surname is given as ''de' Torresani'', ''de' Torexanis'', ''de Torrexanis'', ''della Torre'', ''Torresan'', ''Torresani'', ''Toresani'', ''Torriani'' and ''Torriano''. His full name in Spanish is Juanelo Turriano.

Biography

Called to Spain in 1529 by

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...

, he was appointed ''Court Clock Master'' and built the , an astronomical clock that made him famous in his time.

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

named him . He worked and lived in Toledo, where he built the , an engine that, driven by the river itself, lifted water from the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

to a height of almost 100 meters, to supply the city and its castle (

Alcázar An ''alcázar'', from Arabic ''al-Qasr'', is a type of Islamic castle or palace in Spain built during Al-Andalus, Muslim rule between the 8th and 15th centuries. They functioned as homes and regional capitals for governmental figures throughout ...

). He, however, did not get to be properly paid for its expenses. Della Torre is attributed as the creator of the "Clockwork Prayer", an

automaton An automaton (; : automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions. Some automata, such as bellstrikers i ...

representing a monk manufactured in the 1560s based on a commission from

. Following the recovery of his son, and in the belief that

Didacus of Alcalá Didacus of Alcalá (), also known as Diego de San Nicolás, was a Spanish Franciscan lay brother who served among the first group of missionaries to the newly conquered Canary Islands. He died at Alcalá de Henares on 12 November 1463 and is ho ...

had in some way intervened on his behalf, King Philip II of Spain would have commissioned Della Torre, mechanic to his father, to build a clockwork model of Didacus. The model would perform a number of set actions, including the beating of the breast which accompanies the prayer. An automaton of similar age, functions, and appearance is in the collections of the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Another automaton associated with Della Torre is a figure of a lady playing a lute housed in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

, Vienna. He died at Toledo on 13 June 1585.

References

Bibliography

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External links

El artificio de Juanelo
The water fetching

.
Juanelo Turriano Foundation

Reconstrucción del artificio de Juanelo (PDF format) The new model of the hydraulic machine known as El Artificio de Juanelo in three-dimensional computer simulation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turriano, Juanelo 1500s births 1585 deaths Scientists from Cremona Italian clockmakers 16th-century Italian engineers 16th-century Italian inventors Duchy of Milan people