Madame Tussaud and the history of waxworks

the long version

Tussauds catered for the public's fascination with monarchy, as well as for their love of history, acting as an accessible and enjoyable museum. This work looks at Madame Tussaud herself and her exhibition as part of the wider history of wax modelling and of popular entertainment. "Madame Tussaud was a very remarkable woman. She survived the French Revolution, brought her waxworks to England, and made them the most popular tourist attraction in London. Yet Marie Tussaud was by no means the inventor of wax figures or their only exhibitor. Wax heads and models had been used since Roman times and were used for saints' statues by the Catholic Church and for anatomical teaching. There were also many rival shows, often travelling from town to town, as Tussaud's itself did for its first thirty years in England." "Pamela Pilbeam sees Madame Tussaud herself and her exhibition as part of the wider history of wax modelling and of popular entertainment. Tussaud's catered for the public's fascination with monarchy, whether Henry VIII and his wives, Napoleon or Queen Victoria, as well as for their love of history, acting as an accessible and enjoyable museum (but also providing the perennial fascination of the Chamber of Horrors)."--BOOK JACKET.