The official Madam Tussauds website writes that during the Reign of Terror, Grosholtz and her mother were thrown into prison, and she was “forced to prove her allegiance to the Revolution by making death masks of executed nobles and her former employers, the King and Queen.” She casted a mold of the head of Louis XVI after his execution, as well as the severed heads of Queen Marie Antoinette and Maximilien Robespierre, the most well known political figure of the revolution. It is said that shortly after the onset of the French revolution Grosholtz was ordered to create plaster casts and death masks of victims of the guillotine, many of whom she had known and befriended during her years in Paris. She traveled in elite circles, meeting aristocrats, intellectuals, and French revolutionaries. Word of her talent spread and she was invited to join the Royal Court in Versailles where she became the art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister, Madame Elizabeth, in 1780. Grosholtz was adept at waxworks, and sculpted notable figures of the day, including historian and philosopher Francois Voltarie, and statesman Benjamin Franklin.Īrt, Meds, and Fuel-The Surprising Historical Uses of Ancient Mummies HistoryToday writes that Curtius had a talent for wax modelling and amassed his own collection of wax heads and busts. Curtius taught Grosholtz the art of wax sculpture. The two moved to Switzerland where Marie’s mother was housekeeper for Philippe Curtius, a skilled physician.

Molding Heads and Carving Facesīorn in France in 1761, a young Marie Grosholtz was raised by her widowed mother-her father, a German soldier, having died of gruesome war wounds. The history of Madam Tussauds is a tale of gruesome masks, bloody revolution, and one of the 19th century’s most successful business women.

Tussaud’s story of art, death, revolution, and fame remains hidden beneath the modern museum’s public-friendly exterior. However, the history of the most famous waxworks of them all-Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in London, is a dark one. Modern techniques and advanced artistry lends the wax figures a hyper-reality that can be off-putting to some, astounding to others. Some museums will feature a “Chamber of Horrors,” showcasing heinous criminals or undead terrors. Wax museums, sometimes called waxworks, display collections of wax sculptures molded to portray historical figures, royalty, celebrities, and other notable individuals. Others cringe and feel uneasy around the unmoving, but uncannily lifelike figures. Many people delight in the spectacle of wax museums.

Waxworks museum in london