Madame Tussaud

Isabella Haberstock

In this paper, I will examine Madame Tussauds influence on the French Revolution
(1789-1799) and the modern world. Madame Marie Tussaud began making wax figures with a
man her mother worked for when she was a teenager. They opened a wax museum that was
adored by many Parisians. She eventually became an art tutor for the royal family. Her affiliation
with them caused her to nearly be executed, but she was saved by her unique skill in wax figures
and was put to work immediately. Tussaud sculpted the heads of the famous people sent to the
guillotine during the Revolution and Reign of Terror such as King Louis XVI and Marie
Antoinette. She then set out on her own to open her wax museum that still exists today. I argue
that Madame Tussaud greatly affected France and all future generations of artists. I will prove
this by discussing her role in the French Revolution and Reign of Terror, analyzing her wax
figures, and evaluating her legacy today.
First, I will dissect Madame Tussauds role in the French Revolution and Reign of Terror.
She made death masks of victims of the guillotine and put them on display in her wax museum
in Paris. The wax heads of the dead aristocrats attracted a large crowd, and her business became
very successful. Madametussauds.com states that Tussauds exhibition continued to flourish as
people flocked to see the likenesses of the men and women whose ruthless determination for
social and political change reshaped their lives. Even though she had to make the death masks
of her friends and other people that she knew, she continued to do it. She also made models of
the martyrs of the Revolution, such as Jean-Paul Marat. Tussauds display sparked Frances sense
of nationalism. Everyone saw her death masks as a symbol of the French peoples power and

visited her wax museum very often. Madame Tussaud influenced France and the world because
of how her wax sculptures invoked nationalism among French citizens.
Next I will analyze the wax figures that Madame Tussaud made in her life. In addition to
the death masks and martyrs, she created figures of famous people of that time period. She made
wax models of Enlightenment thinkers, like Voltaire and Rousseau. She was even asked to make
a figure of Napoleon Bonaparte during his time as the Emperor of France. She took her wax
collection to London, England, and turned away from death masks and other symbols of the
Revolution. Tussaud made figures of the people who were guillotined, but she portrayed them as
the respectable aristocrats that the British people knew them to be instead of just bloody heads on
pikes. Encyclopedia.com states, For the first time, English audiences could really see the
features of the guillotined king and queen, whose deaths they mourned. She traveled throughout
the United Kingdom with her display and updated her collection frequently to accommodate
anyone who achieved celebrity status. She set up a permanent display on Baker Street and kept
working until her death in 1850. Madame Tussaud influenced the world because of her wide
array of wax figures that displayed popular people of the age.
Finally, I will evaluate Madame Tussauds impact on the world today. One major part of
her life that has been preserved is her wax museums. Wax sculptures of famous people are on
display in her exhibitions all over the world, and they are adored by the public. People love
seeing their favorite celebrities, even though it is not the real thing. Encyclopedia.org states,
Madame Tussauds is a sort of three-dimensional version of People Weekly or Entertainment
Tonight. Her gruesome past of picking through severed heads and making masks out of them
has also inspired many people. Tussaud used her talent to survive the Reign of Terror and
become a business owner, even though she was unmarried and all the odds were against her.

People continue her legacy today by running her shop and upholding her standards of art.
Madame Tussaud affected the world because her shop still exists today and has expanded around
the world.
Madame Tussaud massively expanded the art world with her wax sculptures. After using
her unique talent to narrowly escape her execution, she heightened Frances sense of nationalism
with her lifelike death masks. After deciding that sifting through severed heads was not the life
she wanted, she went out on her own and started one of the most successful museums in the
world. Tussaud always did her best to make the most lifelike replicas of anyone who achieved
fame. The people in London went to her display to see celebrities up close and view the latest
fashion trends. Today, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is a worldwide business franchise that
features famous people throughout history. Madame Tussaud has become a pop culture icon for
her skill at capturing a person in wax. What would the art world be like today if Madame
Tussaud had not been spared from the guillotine?