Kate Berridge (45 page)

Read Kate Berridge Online

Authors: Madame Tussaud: A Life in Wax

Tags: #Art, #Artists; Architects; Photographers, #Modern, #General, #Biography & Autobiography, #19th Century, #History

gunpowder: and siege of the Bastille, 107–8, 110; shortage in 1793, 130

 

Hackney: MT in, 257

hairdressing and headdresses, 17,
20
, 36,
36
, 46; Marie Antoinette, 18, 35–6; expressing personality via coiffure, 23; influence of Rousseau, 23; styles inspired by war and economic failures, 37, 50; patriotic hairstyles, 121;
see also
Berlin, Rose; fashion(s); Léonard

Hales, Miss, 230

Hardy, Thomas: allusions to Madame Tussaud's, 320

Haydon, Benjamin Robert, 288–9

Hayter, Sir George: portrait of Wellington, 311–12

heads: replacing heads of wax models, 25,
25
, 57, 93–4, 125, 272; head and body, relationship between, 94; wax and real heads, 102,
104
; Curtius's wax heads in London, 110–11; wax heads displayed in London, 110–11; modelling by Curtius in cemeteries, 152; last modelled by MT, 166;
see also
modelling by MT of death masks and guillotined heads

Hébert, Jacques-René, 151; head modelled by MT, 157

Hervé, Francis, 6, 266; accuracy of accounts, 267;
see also Madame Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of France

history: English, MT and, 276; MT's influence on history of the French Revolution, 7, 93, 95; with news, in MT's exhibition, 247

Hogarth, William, 184

Horry, Marie Anne and Didiès: as MT's creditors, 166

Houdon, Jean-Antoine, 54

Hyde Park: Crystal Palace at, 316

 

idolatry: cult of
see
celebrity

Illustrated London News
, 291, 311–12; obituary of MT, 310; on Great Exhibition, 317

illustration: introduction of colour printing, 262

India: Curtius's wax models in, 155

itinerant showmen
see
travelling shows

Ireland, 211; Despard's trial and execution in London, 189–90; MT in, 208, 209; fear of invasion, 209–10; pro-French feeling, 211; progress of MT's exhibition, 211–12, 228;
see also
Dublin

 

Jacobins: and Curtius, 124, 160; and Girondins, 124; at Comédie Italienne, 129; backlash against, 163

James, Henry: allusions to Madame Tussaud's in
The Golden Bowl
, 320

Jefferson, Thomas: on Paris, 40

jewellery: MT and, 75, 222; memorabilia of French Revolution, 114, 121, 156

Johnson, Dr Samuel: on French food, 48

Joseph II of Germany: MT on, 53

Joséphine, empress of France (
née
Joséphine Beauharnais): imprisonment during French Revolution, 157–8; MT on, 157–8, 204; as fashion icon, 171; wax portrait, 171; relationship with MT, 174; interest of British in, 178

journalism: after Revolution, 122

 

Kaleidoscope, The
, 233

Karamzin, Nicolai, 39; on Paris theatres, 31; on Palais-Royal, 87–8; on the Dauphin, 141

Kent: MT's tour, 256

Kilkenny, 211

Kingsley, Charles: on Bristol riots, 256

 

La Belle Zuleima (wax model), 44

Lafayette, General, 28–9; wax model, 28, 145; as Curtius's guest, 51; and rally at Champ de Mars, 129

La Force prison, Paris, 138, 157–8

Lamballe, Princesse de: MT on, 138–40; murder, 138–9

La Motte, Madame (murder victim), 27

Lancaster Gazette
, 146

language: changes in French Revolution, 130–1

La Tour du Pin, Madame
see
Tour du Pin, Madame de La

Launay, Bernard René de: murder, 109–10; wax head, 110–11, 119, 170

Laurency, Dominick, 155

Laurie, Mrs (MT's landlady in Edinburgh), 200

Law of Suspects 1793, 151

Lawrence, Sir Thomas: painting as source for MT's wax model, 240

Léonard (hairdresser): on Marie Antoinette, 18, 77–8; on poufs, 23; at court, 76, 77; exploitation of image of royal family, 79; on Versailles, 90

Les Carmes prison, 157–8

lifelike models
see
likenesses

light: candles, 22, 50-1, 166; gas lighting, London, 196; and social divisions, 50–1; importance in waxworks exhibitions, 51

light entertainment: increased interest in, 31–2, 35

likenesses: Curtius's heads, 29; MT's models, 110–11, 190, 193, 207, 210, 233, 234–5, 237, 244–5; MT's doormen, 132; Napoleon on, 174–5; Patience Wright's models, 186; animated, 192–3, 307–8; importance to London audiences, 193, 234; made from life, 206, 239, 240; quality, in MT's advertising, 207; wax models mistaken for real people, 238–9; ‘lifelike' and ‘from life', distinction, 239, 240; and photography, 309;
see also
photography

Lin, Commissioner, 277,
277

Lincoln: MT in, 229, 239

Lind, Jenny, 303

Linguet, Simon, 114

Literary Gazette
, 281

Liverpool: MT in, 226, 232, 233, 245, 249; Whale Lounge, 231; Burke death mask, 240–1; MT's models of George IV's coronation, 246

Liverpool Mercury
, 240–1

‘Living Skeleton', 223

London, 198, 257, 297; display of wax heads in 1789, 110–11; Curtius's show in, 169; French-themed entertainments, 179–80; Lyceum Theatre, 188, 189, 190; riots, 215–16; MT's return to London after touring, 250, 257; MT's touring exhibition in, 257; choice of site for MT's exhibition, 261; MT's exhibitions
see
Baker Street exhibition; Golden Corinthian Saloon; Old London Bazaar, Gray's Inn Road

London Interiors
, 3

London Magazine
, 186

London Saturday Journal
, 62–3, 127, 267, 296

Lorges, Comte de, wax model, 115–17,
117

Louis XV, King of France, 12, 89; sex life, 15; and the Grand Couvert, 74–5

Louis XVI, King of France: on Rousseau, 13; as leader of fashion, 38; horseriding, 40; support for Nicolet, 44; MT on, 64, 65, 66, 68; lack of assertiveness, 66; metalwork hobby, 66–7; appearance, 67, 89–90; greed, 67, 125; and the Grand Couvert, 74; wax models, 74, 80–1, 103, 144, 170; dress, 75; as sitter for MT, 80–1; public disillusionment, 89; public mockery of, 89, 128; as hunter, 98–9; and reform, 99; dismissal of Necker, 102; abortive flight, 124; conflicting loyalties, 124; contempt for, 125; as Louis Capet, 130; removal to Temple prison, 138; disposal of body and effects, 142–3; trial and execution, 142; death head modelled, 143; first appearance of modelled head, 144

Louis XVIII, King of France, (
formerly
Comte de Provence): greed, 67; lechery, 67; as claimant to the throne, 166; as MT's patron, 229

Louvre, the: general public's interest, 31

 

macabre: exhibits, 40–1, 115, 319; MT's exploitation of, 140–1, 190, 234, 319;
see also
Chamber of Horrors; murderers

McAdam, John: road improvements, 217

Macaulay, Thomas Babington, 4

Madame Tussaud and Sons: as family business, 215; improvements to exhibition, 259; decision to commit to permanent premises, 260; and public interest in the royal family, 274; reasons for success, 275–6; move upmarket, 278, 279–80; as serious fine art collectors, 278; understanding of entertainment, 281; criticism of, 291–2, 303, 312, 320; international empire, 322;
see also
Baker Street exhibition

Madame Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of France
, 6, 34; questionable veracity, 6–7, 62, 267–8, 321; influence on history of the French Revolutions, 7, 93, 95; as source of myths about MT, 34, 53; on Curtius's house guests, 51–2, 53, 101, 125; accounts of sittings for wax models, 56–7, 80; and MT's relationship with French royal family, 61, 62; life at court, 68–70, 72–3, 127; as costume history, 75, 268; eye-witness accounts of French Revolution, 92–3; on French Revolution, 92; on modelling of guillotined heads, 95, 141; impersonal tone, 113; on Comte de Lorges, 116–17; reticence of MT in, 124–5, 127; on Madame Elizabeth, 127; apparent attraction for powerful men in, 128; on modelling of Louis XVI's guillotined head, 144; on Marat tableau, 149; on imprisonment with Joséphine, 159; on modelling of Napoleon, 174–5, 210–12; capitalization on early life in France, 229; publication in 1838, 265–7; advertising of, 267, 272

Madeleine cemetery: Louis XVI's body taken to, 142–3; MT modelling heads in, 143,

152–3

Madras: Curtius's wax models in, 155

Madras Courier
, 155

magic-lantern: shows, 42, 190–1; Philipstal's patent, 194, 196; Philipstal's sale of apparatus, 207;
see also
phantasmagorias

Maidstone Journal
, 250

Malibran, Maria, 260–1; wax model, 260

Manchester: Peterloo Massacre, 215; MT in, 226, 232, 233; Bradley's exhibition, 237;

MT's models of George IV's coronation, 246

Manchester Guardian
, 246

Manchester Herald
, 244

Manchester Mercury
, 238

Manning, Maria and George: execution, 303; wax models, 304

Marat, Jean-Paul: MT on, 53, 126–7, 134; on changed fashions, 122; oratory, 126; incitement to violence, 138; cult of, 146, 149, 164–5; death and commemoration, 146–50; painting by David, 146, 147,
148
, 149–50; waxwork tableau, 146,
148
, 149–50, 234; embalming of body, 147; funeral, 147

Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria: on Marie Antoinette, 35–6

Marie Antoinette, Queen of France: and Bertin, 15, 37, 76–7; dressing down, 18; as fashion icon, 18, 75–6, 77, 78; headdresses, 18, 35–6; couture costumes for wax model, 24; as patron, 40; need for entertainment, 45; MT on, 64, 66, 67, 68; at Versailles court, 71–2, 73; in the Grand Couvert, 74; dress, 75; character, 76; and modernization of monarchy, 76; hair loss, 77–8; as sitter for MT, 80–1; wax model, 80, 88–9, 144, 170; public disillusionment, 89; at Comédie Italienne, 129; removal to Temple prison, 138; execution, 151; MT at execution, 151–2

marketing
see
advertising

Marseillaise, 136

Marseilles:
fédérés
, 136

Martineau, Harriet, 71, 72

mass market: MT and, 2–3; celebrity as mass-market phenomenon, 303

masses
see
crowd

Mayeur de Saint-Paul, François, 29, 87

Mead, Joseph, 295–6;
London Interiors
,
276

memoirs, MT's
see Madame Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of France…

memorabilia
see
commemorative merchandise

Mercier, Louis-Sébastien, 11, 21, 327; on sermon shops, 14; on fashions, 17, 38; on crime, 27; on Desrues, 27–8; on hierarchy of entertainment posters, 30; on audience at popular theatre, 31–2; on Paris state regulation, 35; on Parisian eating, 48; on profligate use of flour, 50; on French royal family, 71–2, 90; on Bertin's wax dolls, 78; on Palais-Royal, 87; on revolutionary Paris, 90, 125; on Paris, 94; on Tuileries massacre, 137; on shifting allegiances after Revolution, 165

Mesmer, Franz, 29, 42

middle classes, English: as MT's target audience, 216, 226; delusions of grandeur,

305;
see also
aspiration

middle classes, French, 99; imitations of aristocratic fashions, 16, 19–20; growing power of, 19

Milan Commission, 244

military: resistance to demonstrators, Paris, 105; conflicting allegiances, 124; French army, 129; Tuileries massacre, 135–7; in Bristol riots, 254, 255;
see also
Swiss Guards

Mill, John Stuart: on newspapers, 261

Mirabeau, Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, comte de, 123–4; appearance, 38, 51; as Curtius's guest, 51; wax model, 94; bust made from Bastille fragments, 114; funeral, 123

mirrors, 20

mob
see
crowd

modelling by MT of death masks and guillotined heads, 153,
158
, 234, 311; difficulty, 113; MT's first head, 139; done under duress, 141, 143, 146, 159, 166, 190, 234; Louis XVI, 143; Marat, 149; Charlotte Corday, 150; Marie Antionette, 152; Hébert, 157; Robespierre, 159–60; first after Curtius's death, 164;
see also
wax models

monarchy
see
royal family; royalty

Moran, Benjamin, 312

Moritz, Monsieur: phantasmagoria, 180

Morning Herald
, 259, 278

Morris, Gouverneur: on importance of appearance, 16; on Paris life, 39–40, 45; on Mirabeau's reputation, 123–4

Muller, William, 255

murderers: fascination with, 150, 234, 301, 303, 304;
see also
Chamber of Horrors; crime

museums, public: and MT, 2

music: background music, MT and, 250, 282; use in MT's wax exhibitions, 226, 250–1,

259, 319

musicians: employed by MT, 250, 319

 

Napoleon Bonaparte, 2, 241; as witness to Tuileries massacre, 136–7; rise to prominence, 168, 173; cult of, 173, 209, 305, 307; dress, 173–4; as First Consul, 174; life mask, 174; on likenesses, 174–5; wax

Napoleon Bonaparte (
cont.
) models, 174, 210, 237, 241–2, 305; appearance, 178; fascination of the British for, 178, 179; fear of, 178, 209–10; MT on, 204; taken to England, 241; carriage captured at Waterloo, 242, 280,
306
; memorabilia, 242, 279–80; relics, 242, 261, 279, 280, 307; coronation, MT's model, 246; wax model of son, 279; product endorsements, 302; animated wax figure, 307–8

National Assembly: declaration of, 99; MT ordered to mould heads by, 141, 143, 146, 159, 166, 190

National Convention, 141; David commissioned to paint Marat by, 147; restrictive measures, 151

National Gallery, London, 280, 281–2

National Guard, 124; Curtius in, 106–7

natural world: representation in waxworks, 29

Necker, Jacques, 30, 97–8; wax model, 94, 97, 103,
104
, 105, 106; dismissal by Louis XVI, 102–3, 105–7; English memorabilia, 115

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