Joseph Pinetti

Giovanni Giuseppe Pinetti, (Joseph Pinetti Willedall de Merci) was known in France as Chevalier Joseph Pinetti (1750–circa 1803). He was born in Orbetello (in Tuscany, Italy) and probably died in Berdychiv (Russian Empire, now a part of Ukraine). He was known as The Professor of Natural Magic and was a complex flamboyant personage. He performed in the later part of the 18th century and was the most celebrated magician of his time. He was the first magician to take advantage of advertising for the theatre.

Biography The magician of the court of Louis XVI and then under the Directoire and First Empire, author of the Physical Amusements (1784), helped expand the art of magic and also created new effects. At the time, magicians performed in the streets as troubadours. While other performers carried their equipment in bags tied around their waist and carried their tables under their arms, Pinetti brought his experiments as he called them, into the theatre. His predecessors performed with brass and tin gadgets, while Pinetti's was made of gold and silver.

He returned to Paris, but his tour was shortened when another book was published by Decremps showing the new tricks of Pinetti's. Decremps attempted to perform himself as a magician but was not as skilled on the stage as he was in his books. It was doubtful if there ever was a Count Edmond de Grisy or if he ever was an adversary of Pinetti's.

Professor Pinetti was known for the amount of money he made throughout his career and flaunting it where ever he went. He continued his tour in Portugal and throughout Europe. It was in Berlin where his flaunting backfired on him. While performing in Prussia, he arrived in the capital city of Berlin in a coach drawn by four white horses. He was dressed as a nobleman of the highest rank. His chest was covered with chivalric orders. With all of this strutting, it was no doubt he was the talk of the town.

The King of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, strolled by in a much plainer coach pulled by only two horses. He saw his guard salute a man he never saw before. After some inquiry, he was told that it was magician Professor Pinetti. When Frederick the Great saw this he was so angry he ordered Pinetti to leave Berlin within twenty-four hours. He said that Berlin was not large enough for two reigning monarchs; the King of Prussia and the King of Conjurers.

Pinetti went to Russia afterwards and was treated better by their ruling monarch. The Czar was so impressed by Pinetti's experiments that he gave the Professor a large ring and a diamond-studded medallion. While in Russia he made a fortune, but lost most of it in a bad investment on a partnership in balloon ascensions.

Robert-Houdin mentions that Pinetti suffered from a long and cruel illness. With all of his wealth, he was reduced to poverty. He was taken in by a nobleman from the town of Berdychiv in Volhynia (modern-day Ukraine). The nobleman gave him shelter out of compassion for the dying man. Pinetti soon died of his illness.

Publications

Physical Amusements and Diverting Experiments (1784)