THE ORIGIN OF TUSSAUD'S.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12715, 29 January 1906, Page 2

THE ORIGIN OF TUSSAUD'S.

People innumerable who have • never teen to London have heard of Madame Tussaud's exhibition fof waxworks;, j It ■is interesting to learn-from an articl© in " Chamber's Journal" for December that the circumstances out of which ithe exihii'bition arose date back to the eighteenth century. .-*■' : f- -» -'* " In the dark days of the -French ReTolution" (says " Cliamber's Journal ") tihere resided in Paris John Christopher Curtius. He .was a physician, and had acquired a great reputation as an artist in wax foy reason of hie practice of demonstrating the results of Jiis anatomical researches by highly-finished ceToplastio models, a practice which became highly popular among the elite of Parisian society. Among th© habitues ©i hi 3 studio was a niece named Marie Grosholtz, a special favourite, to whom he imparted the secrets of his art so completely that she soon became proficient in it.

" The mania for modelling in wax seized the Court, and the young niece of Curtius -was sent for to give lessons an the art to Madame Elizabeth, the sister of tlhe King. _ " Then came the Revolution, and Ourtius, who had joined the popular party, took young (Marie from the Court and directed her genius to the care of "two exhilbitiona which he had himself started.

During the Reign of Terror Marie Grosholtz was often called upon to model the heads of tlhose who had fallen to tihe fury of the revolutionists; and in HMs way Danton, Marat, and others, including the ill-fated Princess de Lamfoaflle; came under her deft fingers. At last she_ herself was seized and thrown onto' prison, whence she only escaped through the general jail-delivery which followed on the fall of Robespierre. " In. the meantime her uncle Ourtius died, and .Marie ibecaane the wife of a prosperous wine-grower of Burgundy— M. Tuesard.

# It lhas been said that Napoleon took Mndly to "Madame/ and would have done much for her; 'but sihe had a penchant for England, ' which she ultimately made her domicile for nearly half a century.' " On 'landing in London she decided to reproduce her uncle Curtius's waxwlork,_ or 'Cabinet de Oire,' and the en_ terprise succeeded foeyond her own expectations. 'It (became the fashion at once."

At first Madame Tussaud's exhibition was a travelling show, but it finally established lteelf as a fixture in London. Born in 1760, Madam© Tussaaid lived tall 1850. The exhibition is carried on 'by -her descendants. It is more than a storelhousa of the effigies of recent or living celebrities.' In its wax ■portraits it goes 'back to tlhe time of William the Conqueror.