Spontaneous toys

The paper discusses an inspiring collection of androids; human-shaped mechanical dolls. The collection was started by Madeleine de Galea, wife and later widow of a 19th century French diplomat. A passionate collector, she took special interest in the times of Napoleon III and eventually accumulated a number of objects and furnishings from that era. She also collected tin soldiers, china dolls and automatons, which were quite stylish at the time. After Madame de Galea´s death, her grandson donated the bulk of her collection to French museums, including Le Louvre, whereas dolls and automatons were given to Prince Rainier of Monaco and found a permanent home at Villa Sauber in 1972.