"In January 1817, Sr Castelli d'Orino, Milanese, brought to Paris, a Dog whose extraordinary talents are the general admiration."
That's how Munito, the learned dog, is announced beneath an engraving of him published just 207 years ago! His master, Signor Castelli d'Orino, had taught him various feats of strength. Knowing the rudiments of arithmetic and understanding several languages, he could also bring the cards that were announced to him.
In Paris, the dog Munito and his master performed in a Cabinet d'illusions, located Cours des Fontaines near the Palais-Royal, then traveled to various cities. In a rare little booklet dedicated to Munito's life, the dog is presented as having a size similar to "that of an ordinary poodle [...]; he is white and has only one brown spot over his left eye; his muzzle is short and curly [...]". The same booklet tells us that Munito was born "from the mating of a barbette bitch with a hunting dog, in Limito".
As a result of his popularity, Munito was depicted in numerous engravings and even on plates. We reproduce below the detail of one of them, showing Munito playing dominoes against his master. This plate exists in at least three different versions: one polychrome, and another with a different decoration.
But Munito was really nothing more than a dog with a rare intelligence, but not enough to know different languages or how to count. The whole act was based on a "trick", a simple trick that gave the illusion that the dog really possessed extraordinary cognitive abilities.
In conclusion, even after Munito's retirement from the scene, many other artists tried their luck by performing the same experiments with their dogs as Munito had done before them. These include Monetto.
We've also published a book on the life of this unusual performing dog, so you can always find out more about his story!