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Wax Museum
A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes. Some wax museums have a special section dubbed the "Chamber of Horrors (Madame Tussauds), Chamber of Horrors", in which the more grisly exhibits are displayed. Some collections are more specialized, as, for example, collections of wax medical models once used for training medical professionals. Many museums or displays in historical houses that are not wax museums as such use wax figures as part of their displays. The origin of wax museums goes back to the early 18th century at least, and wax funeral effigies of royalty and some other figures exhibited by their tombs had essentially been tourist attractions well before that. History before 1800 The making of life-size wax figures wearing real clothes grew out of the funeral practices of European royalty. In the Middle Ages it was th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
King Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monarch in history. An emblem of the age of absolutism in Europe, Louis XIV's legacy includes French colonial expansion, the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War involving the Habsburgs, and a controlling influence on the style of fine arts and architecture in France, including the transformation of the Palace of Versailles into a center of royal power and politics. Louis XIV's pageantry and opulence helped define the French Baroque style of art and architecture and promoted his image as absolute ruler of France in the early modern period. Louis XIV began his personal rule of France in 1661 after the death of his chief minister Cardinal Mazarin. A believer in the divine right of kings, Louis XIV continued Louis XIII's work of creating a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds (, ) is a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. One of the early main attractions was the Chamber of Horrors, which appeared in advertising in 1843. In 1883, the restricted space of the original Baker Street site prompted Tussaud's grandson (Joseph Randall) to commission the building at its current London location on Marylebone Road. The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success. Madame Tussaud & Sons was incorporated as a private limited company (Ltd.) in 1889. A major tourist attraction in London since the Victorian era, Madame Tussauds displays the waxworks of famous and historical figures, as well as popular film and television characters played by famous actors. Operated by the British entertainment company Merlin Entertainments, the museum now has locations in cities across four continents, with the first overseas branch opening in Amsterdam in 1970. History Background ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death Mask
A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead or be used for creation of portraits. The main purpose of the death mask from the Middle Ages until the 19th century was to serve as a model for sculptors in creating statues and busts of the deceased person. Not until the 1800s did such masks become valued for themselves. In other cultures a death mask may be a funeral mask, an image placed on the face of the deceased before burial rites, and normally buried with them. The best known of these are the masks used in ancient Egypt as part of the Mummy, mummification process, such as the mask of Tutankhamun, and those from Mycenaean Greece such as the Mask of Agamemnon. When taken from a living subject, such a cast is called a life mask. In some European countries, it was common for death masks to be used as part of the effigy of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marie Tussaud
Anna Maria "Marie" Tussaud (; née Grosholtz; 1 December 1761 – 16 April 1850), commonly known as Madame Tussaud, was a French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds, the wax museum she founded in London. Biography Marie Tussaud was born on 1 December 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her father, Joseph Grosholtz, was killed in the Seven Years' War just two months before Marie was born. When she was six years old, her mother, Anne-Marie Walder,Concannon, Undine. "Tussaud, Anna Maria (bap. 1761, d. 1850)". ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (2004 ed.). Oxford University Press. . took her to Bern, Switzerland. There the family moved into the home of local doctor Philippe Curtius (1741–1794), for whom Anne-Marie acted as housekeeper. Curtius, whom Marie would call her uncle, was skilled in wax modeling. He initially used this talent to illustrate anatomy, but he later used it for portraits. He moved to Paris in 1765 to establish a ''Cabinet de Portra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philippe Curtius
Philippe Curtius (1737–1794) was a Swiss people, Swiss physician and wax modeler who taught Marie Tussaud the art of wax modelling. Marie Grosholtz, the future Marie Tussaud, lived in the Bern home of Curtius, for whom her mother acted as housekeeper. Marie called him 'Uncle', and in many ways he was a father figure. Curtius used his skill in wax modelling to illustrate anatomy as a physician, and sometimes for the entertainment of visitors. Later, he started to do portraits. Curtius created beautiful anatomical wax models that were admired by the Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti, Prince de Conti. In 1765, Curtius was persuaded to give up his medical career and move to Paris, where he could practice wax modelling as a fine art, starting work to set up a ''cabinet de cire'' (wax exhibition).Undine Concannon, ‘Tussaud , Anna Maria (bap. 1761, d. 1850)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 In that year he made a waxwork of Mme du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was named. The street has been an important through route since Londinium, Roman times. During the Middle Ages, businesses were established and senior clergy lived there; several churches remain from this time including Temple Church and St Bride's Church, St Bride's. The street became known for printing and publishing at the start of the 16th century and by the 20th century, most List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British national newspapers operated here. Much of the industry moved out in the 1980s after News International set up cheaper manufacturing premises in Wapping, but some former newspaper buildings are Listed building, listed and have been preserved. The term ''Fleet Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Salomon Wahl
Johann Salomon Wahl (1689, Chemnitz – 5 December 1765, Copenhagen) was a German artist who became a court painter in Denmark. Biography He trained as a painter between 1705 and 1711 with David Hoyer (1667–1720), the court painter in Leipzig. After that, he settled in Hamburg, where he worked as a portrait painter for the Duchy of Holstein, Holstein. In 1719, he was called to Denmark to work for the Danish royal family. When Christian VI of Denmark, Christian VI ascended the throne in 1730, Wahl was appointed as court painter. In 1737, he took over the administration of the National Gallery of Denmark, Royal Collection. In 1744, he became an honorary member of the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. He was among the first Northern artists to apply the new French styles of portrait painting, emphasizing one's position in society rather than their personality, although his portraits of those outside the nobility tended to be freer in style. References * Altona Museum: ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chateau Of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines Department of Île-de-France region in France. The palace is owned by the government of France and since 1995 has been managed, under the direction of the French Ministry of Culture, by the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles. About 15,000,000 people visit the palace, park, or gardens of Versailles every year, making it one of the most popular tourist attractions in the world. Louis XIII built a hunting lodge at Versailles in 1623. His successor, Louis XIV, expanded the château into a palace that went through several expansions in phases from 1661 to 1715. It was a favourite residence for both kings, and in 1682, Louis XIV moved the seat of his court and government to Versailles, making the palace the '' de facto'' capital of France. This state of affairs was continued by Kings Louis X ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
