Recognise the name Marie Grosholz? Heard of Madame Tussaud? Laetitia D traces the origins of the wax museums:
a 32-year-old woman undertook the gruesome labor of casting in wax the severed heads of the enemies of the Revolution. The effigies were then paraded on picks in the streets as symbolic sacraments of the people’s victory. The dilligent wax manufacturer’s name was Marie Grosholz, a name she promptly changed after her wedding to become Madame Tussaud.