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Girolamo Scoto
| Girolamo Scoto | |
| Flourished | 1569 to 1610 |
|---|---|
Girolamo Scoto (ll. 1569-1610), also known as Hieronymus Scotto, Hieronimi Scotti, Jeronimo Scotto, Jerome Scot and Count Albertus Scotus, was an Italian "magician and juggler" entertainer active in the last half of the 16ths century, who traveled Europe and was on of the first mentalist.
Biography
The earliest record of him is association in 1569 with Archduke Ferdinand II, Regent of the Tyrol, for whom he performed in 1572.
A medal, or token, with the image of Scoto was produced by the sculptor Antonio Abondio in 1580, making it one of the first portraits of a known magician.[1]
He was mentioned by Thomas Nash in The Unfortunate Traveller, or The Life of Jack Wilton (1594) who wrote "Scotto that did juggling tricks here before the Queen".
Scoto is also mentioned in Daemonologie (1599) by King James I[2] and may have performed magic for Queen Elizabeth I of England on May 12, 1602. He is not named but is referred as "an Italian at court that doth wonderful tricks upon the cards".[3]
A description of Scotto's performance is preserved, by Ferdinand's personal physician, Dr. Handsch. Dr. Handsch describes Scotto as not only a clever card-manipulator, but also a capable telepathist and mentalist.[4]
Nothing further is known of Scotto after 1602.
He was inducted into the Society of American Magicians Hall of Fame and Magic Museum.
References
- ↑ http://smallmagicollector.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/a-conjurers-face-girolamo-scoto-hieronimus-scotti/
- ↑ http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25929/25929-h/25929-h.html
- ↑ 196. THE ITALIAN COURT CONJURER HIERONYMUS SCOTTO: NEW LIGHT ON HIS PORTRAIT IN WAX, A Rich Cabinet of Magical Curiosities by Edwin Dawes
- ↑ Hieronymus Scotto, An Unknown Conjurer of the Renaissance by Ottokar Fischer, Sphinx, March 1937