Madame Elizabeth of France--Madame Tussaud goes to
Versailles--Foulon--Three notable groups--“Caverne des Grands
Voleurs.”
In the year 1780 the ill-fated Louis XVI had been six years on the
throne, and Curtius by this time had become well ingratiated with the
followers of the New Régime.
[Illustration: MADAME ELIZABETH OF FRANCE
The Sister of Louis XVI and Patroness of Madame Tussaud. A Portrait Study
by John T. Tussaud.]
Among the many distinguished visitors who honoured Curtius’s studio with
their presence in 1780 was one who was destined to exercise a great
influence on Madame Tussaud’s life. This was the King’s sister, Madame
Elizabeth of France, who, at the time we speak of, was sixteen years of
age. Her disposition was singularly sweet and charming, and the keen
interest she took in the models and mysteries of the studio caused her to
bestow upon the niece of Curtius very special attention.
Madame Elizabeth, according to her young protégée, was of medium
height and slight build, her forehead was high and intellectual, and
she had kind, soft, blue eyes. Her expression and demeanour were most
sympathetic, and on the slightest provocation her amiable countenance
became wreathed in smiles, the parting lips revealing a perfect set of
teeth.
So infatuated did Madame Elizabeth become with this pleasant work of
modelling in coloured wax, which was soon to become a veritable craze,
that she asked Madame Tussaud to instruct her in the art, and for that
purpose invited her to live with her in her apartments at the Palace of
Versailles, for the Princess seldom visited Paris.
Her overtures to his niece met with little opposition on the part of
Curtius, who, in spite of the fact that he had decided leanings towards
the cause of the people, yet, in order to further his relative’s
interests, readily gave his permission to her accompanying the Princess.
This concession Curtius must have made at some sacrifice, for it deprived
him of his niece’s society and of the help she was then rendering him in
his studio.
Madame Tussaud accordingly bade her uncle farewell, and left Paris for
Versailles.
[Illustration: MADAME TUSSAUD AT THE AGE OF 20
Madame Tussaud, as the young and beautiful Marie Grosholtz, at the time
she was compelled by the National Convention to take impressions of the
dead features of Louis XVI, his Queen Marie Antoinette and many leaders
of the French Revolution. A Portrait Study by John T. Tussaud.]
The quarters then occupied by Madame Elizabeth were situated at the end
of the façade of the south wing of the palace, and looked out upon the
Swiss Lake.
One wonders whether the fascinating work of modelling in wax was the
sole influence that prompted Madame Elizabeth’s friendly feeling towards
Madame Tussaud. The Princess had already shown a marked predilection
for the Swiss, for both at the palace and on her own private estate of
Montreuil hard by she had many Swiss people about her.
Unfortunately, little is known of the life of Madame Tussaud either
at Versailles or at Montreuil, which the King presented to his sister
with the understanding that she should continue to make Versailles her
official home until she attained the age of twenty-four.
[Illustration: MADAME ELIZABETH AT MONTREUIL
From a painting by Ricard in Versailles.]
We are told that the Princess was very fond of modelling sacred subjects,
and many of these works produced by her own hands she gave away to her
friends. She showed her attachment to Madame Tussaud in many ways, and
required her to sleep in an adjoining apartment.
Curtius’s niece often found herself engaged in many duties besides those
associated with modelling in wax, and it was no unusual thing for the
girl to be made the means of conveying alms to the Princess’s numerous
pensioners.
For nine years she enjoyed the confidence and almost daily company of
her patroness, and throughout the long life vouchsafed to her she deemed
them the happiest she had known. Seldom could she be brought to dwell
upon these days, or call to mind the fate of her illustrious pupil and
the other members of the Royal Family she then so often encountered,
without the tears, sooner or later, welling to her eyes. Indeed, not even
after the passage of some sixty years, when her own days were drawing
to a close, and when one might have expected her grief to have become
assuaged, could she restrain her emotion at the memory of their sad and
tragic end.
We have already referred to the second and larger Exhibition opened
by Curtius on the Boulevard du Temple. A collection of wax figures
representing famous personages, living and dead, attired in their
everyday costume, and exhibiting their usual pose and attitude, was known
as a “Cabinet de Cire.”
The house wherein Curtius opened this second Exhibition was formerly
occupied by Foulon, the Minister of Finance, who earned public execration
by his ill-timed suggestion that if the people could not get sufficient
bread they might eat hay. When the Revolution broke out Foulon was one
of the first victims for the mob to vent its rage upon. They hanged him,
decapitated the body, and then paraded the streets with his head stuck
on a pike, between his lips being placed a wisp of hay in memory of the
cruel sneer at the people’s want.
For his Exhibition Curtius modelled several notable groups. Three of
these call for some mention.
The first was a representation of the Royal Family dining in public, a
curious ceremonial of that period. There was, within the walls of the
Palace of Versailles, a chapel whither the family repaired to hear mass
every morning; and on Sundays, after returning from prayer, they held
a grand _couvert_ in the palace. The dining-table was in the form of a
horseshoe, the _Cent Suisse_ (or Swiss Bodyguard) formed a circle around
it, and, between them, the spectators were permitted to view the august
party at their dinner.
To this spectacle everyone had access, provided the gentlemen were
fully dressed--that is, had a bag-wig, sword, and silk stockings--and
the ladies were correspondingly attired. Even if their clothes were
threadbare the visitors were not turned back; nor were they admitted,
however well clad, unless they presented themselves as etiquette
prescribed.
The costume of the Swiss Bodyguard was magnificent, being similar to that
worn by Henry IV of France. It comprised a hat with three white feathers,
short robe, red pantaloons or long stockings (all in one, and slashed
at the top with white silk), black shoes with buckles, sash, sword, and
halbert.
The Royal Family generally remained three-quarters of an hour at table.
The spectacle was such an interesting one that Curtius, ever alive, as
his successors have been, to satisfy the popular imagination, modelled a
group for his Exhibition depicting the incident.
The second tableau represented an Indian group. In the grounds of the
Palace of Versailles are two residences, the Grand Trianon and the Petit
Trianon, the latter having been a favourite retreat of Marie Antoinette
because of its secluded position and charming attractions.
Curtius--assisted by his niece, who was now a full-grown woman, sensible
of her responsibilities, and able to execute commissions of her
own--modelled a group of figures, consisting of the envoys of Tippoo
Sahib and several sepoys in their picturesque Eastern costumes, which was
arranged under a tent placed in the Grand Trianon.
Tippoo Sahib was the Sultan of Mysore, and he had sent to Louis XVI to
invoke his assistance in expelling the British from his dominions.
On the 10th of August, 1788, after spending the night at the Grand
Trianon, the envoys were escorted to the Palace of Versailles, and
received with great pomp.
This was one of the last occasions on which Madame Elizabeth appeared in
public at the palace and on which the King was able to receive freely the
representatives of a foreign Power. The winter that followed was long and
severe, and had much to do with hastening the outbreak of the Revolution
and the downfall of the monarchy.
We do not know for certain whether the commission for the third group
was prompted by Madame Elizabeth or by Marie Antoinette herself, but we
know for certain that it was one of the groups shown in the Petit Trianon
before those disturbing elements manifested themselves that heralded the
terrible upheaval which was to come. The tableau comprised the seated
figures of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette with their young children, the
Dauphin and the Duchesse d’Angoulême, all attired in full Court costume.
[Illustration: MARIE ANTOINETTE, THE DAUPHIN, AND THE DUCHESSE D’ANGOULÊME
Models taken from life and exhibited for some time in Le Petit Trianon at
Versailles.]
A very special interest attaches to this group, inasmuch that, except for
the renovation necessitated by the long passage of time, it is now shown
within the walls of the present Exhibition exactly as it was when first
modelled.
While Madame Tussaud was fully occupied at Versailles her uncle was busy
with his Museum in Paris.
In 1783 Curtius added to his collection on the Boulevard du Temple
the “Caverne des Grands Voleurs,” which we may fairly regard as the
forerunner of the present Chamber of Horrors.
There seems to be some doubt as to the distinctive character of Curtius’s
two Exhibitions. One authority informs us that his rooms at the Palais
Royal contained the effigies of famous and celebrated men, and that the
venture on the Boulevard du Temple was devoted to those of notorious
and infamous scoundrels. One cannot say for certain what were the
characteristics of the two collections at this time, but there can be no
doubt that both attracted great numbers of people for a very long period.
The descriptive accounts of Parisian amusements of the time make mention
of Curtius’s “Cabinet de Cire”--or, to make use of the titles given to it
on a copperplate etching of that period by Martial, “Théatre des Figures
de Cire, ou Théatre Curtius”--as a sight well worthy of inviting the
attention of persons of rank and condition. “One may see,” said Dulaure
in 1791, “waxen coloured figures of celebrated characters in all stations
of life.”
Upon closing the Exhibition at the Palais Royal, Curtius conveyed its
figures to the Boulevard du Temple, wherein merged all the models that
had been previously on view, thus combining the peculiar characteristics
of the two establishments and constituting the Madame Tussaud’s
Exhibition as we know it to-day.