How Marie Tussaud Created a Wax Empire
How Marie Tussaud Created a Wax Empire Marie Tussaud was arrested and taken to the Bastille for being a royalist supporter. Her head was shaved, which was sometimes a custom before being taken to the guillotine. Fortunately she was eventually pardoned. She was then forced to do one of the more curious acts in history. Some would even think one of the most morbid. Madame Tussaud was forcefully employed to make death masks for anyone asked of her. The first were of course the most obvious: Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette... Read story Marie Tussaud, born on this day in 1761, became wealthy, famous and successful thanks to her talent for wax sculpting, her business acumen and a new kind of public fascination with bodies and public figures. Today Tussaud is chiefly remembered for launching a famous wax museum in Britain that is still operating today and has spawned numerous outposts. However, earlier in her life, in her native France, writes Paris Amanda Spies-Gans for Journ...