The Romance of Madame Tussaud'sTussaud, John Theodore
History
The Romance of Madame Tussaud's
Tussaud, John Theodore
Madame Tussaud and Sons' Exhibition; Tussaud, Marie, 1761-1850; Waxworks
Hayter has given us a most characteristic portrait of Wellington as
he then appeared. He is dressed in his usual blue frock-coat, white
trousers, and white cravat, fastened with the familiar steel buckle.
He stoops a little as was his wont, his head is lightly covered with
snow-white hair, and his manly features are marked with an expression
of mingled curiosity and sadness as, hat in hand, he looks upon the
recumbent Napoleon. The picture was completed early in December, 1852,
and has been on view in the Napoleon Rooms at the Exhibition ever since.
The engravings of the picture have been circulated in thousands
throughout the world, and, strange to say, they are exceedingly popular
in Austria. It is an interesting fact that the painting in question was
the last portrait for which the Duke ever sat.
This story brings to mind several instances in which the members of the
Tussaud family, especially in days gone by, have produced subjects for
other artists to paint from. For example, the model of Marat stabbed in
his bath--which has been shown in our Exhibition ever since it existed
in Paris--was modelled expressly to assist the famous David to paint his
picture representing the death of the miscreant.
Strange to say, a replica of this painting was offered to us a year or
so ago, and the dealer who submitted it insisted that it was the picture
from which our model was copied. He looked wofully incredulous when it
was explained to him that the boot was on the other foot, and that the
picture had been copied from the model.
On one occasion, in a newsagent’s shop, a lady customer asked for a
picture postcard of King Edward. Several were shown to her, but after
inspecting them she pushed all the direct photographs on one side, and
selected the print of a figure that had been modelled. The shopkeeper
subsequently stated that this card was almost invariably chosen in
preference to others.
In recent years there has grown a curious disposition on the part of
certain publishers to exploit for their own purposes work produced in our
studios. This is not to be wondered at when photographs of our models
have been so often mistaken for portraits taken direct from life.
We have ourselves on many occasions photographed our likenesses
for reproduction by the Press; and, apart from this, newspaper
representatives, times out of number, have requested permission to take a
photograph of figures in the Exhibition for the use of their own journal.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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