Departures of note

Born without hands or feet and standing only 2 feet 5 inches tall, Matthias Buchinger nonetheless built a career as an artist, magician, and performer whose feats of dexterity astonished audiences across Northern Europe. His most celebrated work was a self-portrait engraving so finely detailed that the curls of his hair, when examined closely, revealed seven biblical psalms and the Lord's Prayer written in miniature letters. He also made or mended the oldest known model in a bottle in 1719, a depiction of miners underground now displayed at Snowshill Manor.

Buchinger traveled widely, entertaining kings, aristocrats, and common crowds alike, and was known as 'The Greatest German Living' and the 'Little Man from Nuremberg.' He attempted to gain a court appointment with King George I in England but was unsuccessful, so he moved to Ireland, where he gave public demonstrations in Dublin in 1720 and in Belfast in 1722. He was also an accomplished magician, making balls disappear from under cups and producing birds from nowhere, and was said to be unbeatable at cards and a dazzling marksman.

His musical talents were equally broad: he played the dulcimer, hautboy, trumpet, and flute, along with several instruments of his own invention. Buchinger married four times and fathered fourteen children; his first three wives died shortly after childbirth, and his fourth, Ann Elizabeth Teys, outlived him. He died in Cork, Ireland, at age 65. His fame was such that by the 1780s, the term 'Buckinger's boot' had entered English slang as a euphemism for the vagina, a reference to the only limb he possessed.