Born: 1 December 1761, France
Died: 16 April 1850
Country most active: France
Also known as: Anna-Maria Grosholtz or Gresholtz
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Marie Tussaud, founder of the famous “Madame Tussaud’s Exhibition” of wax figures in London.
She was born in Berne, Switzerland, and learned the art of wax modelling from her uncle, with whom she came to Paris.
She became such an adept that she early modelled many of the great people of France, and the modelling of wax figures became a popular craze.
During the Reign of Terror she was called upon to model the heads of many of the prominent leaders and victims of the Revolution, and was herself for three months a prisoner.
Later, she secured permission from Napoleon to leave France, and took with her to London the collection of wax figures she had made and gathered, and which with various additions have been successfully shown for many years in the English metropolis.