3-047-145 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'The Duke of Wellington Visiting the Effigy of Napoleon', 1925. Illustration of a wax tableau at Madame Tussauds, a wax museum founded in London in 1835 by the French sculptor Marie Tussaud. 'It is really a wonderful exhibit. In the tableau may be seen the real camp bedstead used by Napoleon during nearly six years' detention as a State prisoner in St. Helena, with the mattresses and pillow on which he died, and on which he is represented lying in Chasseur uniform, covered with the cloak he wore at the Battle of Marengo in 1800...The likeness of the Emperor is from the original caste taken from his face by an Italian surgeon sent out to St. Helena to attend Napoleon. The figure of the great Duke of Wellington was taken from life in 1852. This grand old soldier, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, continued to attend to the duties of his office when more than eight-two years of age'. From "Madame Tussaud's: The Palace of Enchantment" described by Capt. Edric Vredenburg, illustrated by Howard Davie, [Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd, London, 1925]