Anna Maria Tussaud

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Anna Maria Tussaud Anna Maria Tussaud was born in Strasbourg on 1 December 1761; her father, a soldier named Joseph Grosholtz, was killed in the Seven Years War just two months before Marie was born so she never met her father. Her mother, Anne-Marie Walder, took her to Bern where she moved to work as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius who was a wax Sculpture modeler. Throughout the years all living with Curtius, Tussaund became his biggest fan. She watched him for hours and hours creating Wax Sculptures and became inspired. She also no longer referred to him as Curtius, she called him “uncle.” A couple of years later, Curtius moved to Paris to start working on setting up a wax exhibition. Later that year, Tussaud and her mother joined Curtius and also moved to Paris. Only being ten years old, Curtius saw the talent in Tussaund and asked her to help him create a waxwork of Louis XV’s last mistress, Madame Du Barry, a cast of which is the oldest work currently on display. The first exhibition of Curtius' waxworks was shown in 1772, and attracted a big crowd. The wax figure of Madame Du Barry was displayed and everyone was surprised by the artwork. From there, Tussaund knew what she wanted to be. In this wax figure sculpture, it displays Madame Du Barry lying on a long chair with her hand across her face. She is appeared to by sleeping which is why the title of the sculpture is “Sleeping Beauty.” Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modeling; she showed a lot of talent and started to work more with him. In 1777, she created her first solo wax figure. She later modeled other famous personages, such as Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin.She created more and more wax sculptures and became very known as an artist. When Curtius died in 1794, he left his collection of wax works to Marie. In 1795, she married François Tussaud. They had two children, Joseph and

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