Learning the craft
Marie Grosholtz learned to model in wax from Philippe Curtius, a physician skilled in the craft, and followed him to Paris. She made her first figure, of Voltaire, in 1777, and inherited his collection of wax models when he died in 1794.
Touring Britain
In 1802 she accepted an invitation to show her work at the Lyceum Theatre in London. With the Napoleonic Wars preventing her return to France, she toured Great Britain and Ireland with the collection.
Settling in London
In 1835 the exhibition settled on Baker Street, and by 1843 she was advertising its Chamber of Horrors. She died in London on 16 April 1850. Her grandson later moved the collection to Marylebone Road, where its galleries opened in 1884.
