Madame Tussaud: and the History of Waxworks
by Pamela Pilbeam
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The success of Madame Tussaud's, from its beginnings in Paris before the French Revolution to its prolonged fame as a popular tourist attraction in London, bears out the fascination of waxworks. Yet Madame 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 show more Tussaud's 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 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). show lessTags
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Pamela Pilbeam is Professor Emeritus of French History, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK, and Leverhulme Emeritus Fellow, 2007-2009. She has published extensively on nineteenth-century European history, including Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks (2006, 2nd edition) and French Socialists before Marx: Workers, Women and the Social show more Question in France (2000). show less
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