Marie Tussaud

Marie Tussaud was a French wax sculptor whose touring exhibition of wax figures became the basis of Madame Tussauds in London.

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Bernhard Tussaud: Bernhard Tussaud was Marie Tussaud’s father, who died shortly after her birth. His early death shaped the household in which Marie grew up.
Wax modelling: Wax modelling is the shaping of wax into three-dimensional forms, often by hand. Tussaud used this technique to create the figures that drew audiences to her exhibition.
Madame d'Artois: Madame d'Artois was a French court figure associated with Marie Tussaud's early life and service. Tussaud later recounted that she made figures for members of the royal household.
Robespierre: Maximilien Robespierre was a French revolutionary leader executed in 1794. Tussaud made a wax likeness of Robespierre, linking her display to the Revolution’s central figures.
Philippe Curtius: Philippe Curtius was a Swiss physician and wax modeller who taught Marie Tussaud the craft. Curtius trained her in wax modelling and employed her in his Paris exhibitions.
Death mask: A death mask is a cast made from a person's face after death. Death masks helped preserve facial likenesses that Tussaud could reproduce in wax.
Marie Grosholtz: Marie Grosholtz was the birth name of the artist later known as Marie Tussaud. The name distinguishes her early biography from the married name used for her exhibition career.
Jean-Paul Marat: Jean-Paul Marat was a French revolutionary journalist murdered in 1793. His death mask and wax figure made a notorious revolutionary killing part of the exhibition.
Wax sculpture: Wax sculpture is the art of shaping wax into figures, portraits, and other forms. It was the craft Tussaud learned and used to make her exhibition.
Portrait sculpture: Portrait sculpture is three-dimensional art made to represent a particular person. Her figures depended on recognizable likenesses rather than idealized anonymous forms.