Tussaud
MADAME, the foundress of the well-known exhibition of waxwork in London; born (Marie Grosholtz) in Berne, Switzerland, in 1760; learned the art of modeling in wax in Paris. For a time she was engaged in giving lessons in modelling to Elizabeth, sister of Louis XVI., and in this way became acquainted with the leading personages at court. Imprisoned for three months during the Revolution, in 1802 she established herself in London. The collection of over 300 portrait figures (that of Voltaire and others still on view modelled by Madame Tussaud herself from life), with the "Chamber of Horrors," devoted to figures of murderers, instruments of torture, the guillotine of the Revolution, etc., is one of the sights of London. She died in London, April 16, 1850.