This episode, we consider Madame Tussaud's unique contribution to the true crime genre. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.

In 1849, George and Maria Manning murdered a guest in their London home and fled the British capital . A dramatic hunt for the killers ensued. After the law caught up with the Mannings, the glamorous Maria achieved near-celebrity status as she made her way through the justice system. A staggering thirty thousand spectators gathered to watch her and George's public execution, triggering a ferocious debate about the ethics of capital punishment. When renowned wax modeler Madame Tussaud unveiled...

After more than three decades of touring the provinces, Madame Tussaud made the unexpected decision to settle down in London in 1835. Within a matter of years, Tussaud was running the metropolis’s number-one tourist destination, and she updated the Chamber of Horrors more frequently than ever before. In 1838, she unveiled an effigy of Sir William Courtenay, a charismatic cult leader who committed a murder that led to a government massacre of his followers. Show notes and full transcripts...

For more than three decades, Madame Tussaud toured England, Scotland, and Ireland, winning nationwide acclaim. Over the years, her enterprise morphed into a family business, with both her sons dedicating their lives to the wax museum. In 1829, Madame Tussaud and Sons scored one of their biggest hits of the ’20s with controversial effigies of Burke and Hare, Edinburgh-based murderers who sold their victims' cadavers to anatomists for dissection.  Show notes and full transcripts available at...

From 1803 to 1808, Madame Tussaud toured Scotland and Ireland, exhibiting her handiwork in major cities. During this time, she took drastic measures to win her freedom from her exploitative business partner, Paul Philipstahl. Tussaud went years without creating new figures related to crime, but in 1828 she introduced a likeness of William Corder, perpetrator of the infamous Red Barn Murder. This brutal homicide sparked a cultural phenomenon that lasted for the rest of the nineteenth century...

After marrying and starting a family, Madame Tussaud accepted an offer to partner with another showman and exhibit her handiwork in London. To her dismay, she soon realized that she had teamed up with a snake. Despite a rough start in the British capital, Tussaud scored a major hit with a wax effigy of Colonel Edward Marcus Despard, a convicted traitor who was hanged, drawn, and quartered in February 1803. For show notes and full transcripts, visit www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like...

As the French Revolution ran its course, the monarchy crumbled, and the nation descended into wanton violence. During the Reign of Terror, thousands of French citizens went to the guillotine, and Tussaud made waxen replicas of important revolutionaries’ severed heads, including that of Maximilien Robespierre. In 1793, she also created a wax tableau inspired by perhaps the most notorious crime of this period: the assassination of Jean-Paul Marat.  Show notes and full transcripts available at...

Today, I'm sharing an episode of the delightful art history podcast, Who ARTed?, hosted by Kyle Wood. This episode is all about the Stockholm art heist of the year 2000. Find out what extraordinary paintings were stolen from the National Gallery--and how they were recovered. We're back next week with another installment in Queen of Crime: Madame Tussaud and the Chamber of Horrors. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show,...

On July 12, 1789, a crowd of protestors furious over King Louis XVI’s policies swarmed Madame Tussaud and Philippe Curitus’s wax museum, demanding busts of prominent political figures. This episode led to bloodshed that same afternoon. Two days later, a mob stormed the Bastille, a medieval prison, marking the outbreak of the French Revolution. Soon after, the Den of Illustrious Thieves exhibited objects associated with the Bastille, including an effigy of the notorious Comte de Lorges, a...

Born in 1761, Madame Tussaud studied the art of wax modeling under Philippe Curtius, owner of the most famous wax museum in pre-revolutionary Paris. Sometime around 1780, Curtius opened a special exhibit in his establishment called The Den of Illustrious Thieves, in which he displayed wax effigies of notorious murderers. He had an early hit with a sculpture of double poisoner Antoine Francois Desrues, a struggling grocer who wanted to live the life of an aristocrat whether he could afford to...

Introducing Season 3 . . . Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.   The Art of Crime is part of the Airwave Media network. To learn more about Airwave, visit www.airwavemedia.com. If you'd like to advertise on The Art of Crime, please email [email protected].

The Perseus of Benvenuto Cellini is justly considered a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture. Believe it or not, this statue almost never existed. From start to finish, sculpting the Perseus proved a Herculean labor, as dogged oppostion from Cellini's own patron, life-threatening illness, and the sheer enormity of the artist's ambitions conspired against him. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming...

In 1910, four Abyssinian royals toured the H.M.S. Dreadnought, the most technologically advanced ship in the British Royal Navy. Afterward, however, it leaked to the press that the captain and crew of the vessel had been duped: they had given a tour not to foreign dinitaries but British citizens. The Dreadnought affair caused a minor scandal, and what started as a practical joke threatened to end in legal repercussions for the hoaxers. Show notes and full transcripts available at...

Today, we're joined by Austin Harvey, co-host of History Uncovered, a podcast that explores the natural world and the world past. First, we'll hear a History Uncovered episode about the mysterious disappearance of indigenous art collector Michael Rockefeller in 1961. Afterward, Austin chats with Gavin about the process of making the episode and offers additional insight on a few key points. If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at...

Back in the spring, I was interviewed on the true crime podcast, Crawlspace, and I wanted to share that interview with you. Hope you enjoy! We'll be back with original Art of Crime content in December, and season 3 will start in earnest in January 2024. If you'd like more Art of Crime content now, however, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast. There, you can listen to a sneak peak at season 3, and we're coming out with two new episodes related to the theme of...

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions! Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.   The Art of Crime is part of the Airwave Media network. To learn more about Airwave, visit www.airwavemedia.com. If you'd like to advertise on The Art of Crime, please email [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1990, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman created Assassins, a musical about the nine men and women who have attempted to assassinate U.S. presidents, from John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald. In this special episode, we're joined by three Sondheim buffs to talk about why the musical has remained popular--and controversial--since it opened. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.  If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at...

The Art of Crime is celebrating its one-year anniversary this month, and in honor of the occasion, we're doing a special giveaway. Listen to find out more! To participate, drop me a line at [email protected]. Or you can DM me on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Hope to hear from you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanks to the efforts of renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky gained political asylum in Mexico. In early 1937, the Russian revolutionary moved in with the painter and his wife, Frida Kahlo, at the Blue House on the outskirts of the Mexican capital. A torrid drama ensued, in which Trotsky betrayed his benefactor, at great risk to his own safety. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider...

In 1858, actor-manager Laura Keene bought exclusive rights to Tom Taylor's comedy, Our America Cousin, which became the smash hit of the decade. On April 14, 1865, Keene was performing the play at Ford's Theatre when John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln. As the assassin fled and the playhouse descended into pandemonium, Keene endeavored to manage the crisis.   Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider...

The first in a series of bonus episodes related to the theme of assassins will drop on Wednesday, September 13. To tide you over until then, I'm pleased to present two episodes of the History Daily podcast. History Daily generously featured an episode of The Art of Crime a few weeks back, so I wanted to return the favor. This History Daily episode is about the Antwerp diamond heist of 2003, one of the largest heists of all time. Show notes and full transcripts available at...

The first in a series of bonus episodes related to the theme of assassins will drop on Wednesday, September 13. To tide you over until then, I'm pleased to present two episodes of the History Daily podcast. History Daily generously featured an episode of The Art of Crime a few weeks back, so I wanted to return the favor. This episode is about the mystery of D.B. Cooper. On November 24, 1971, an unidentified criminal known by that name hijacks a Boeing 727, extorts $200,000 in ransom money,...

In this episode, we look back on the crimes we covered this season and consider what we've learned about the nature of assassination, especially when artists are in the picture. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com.   If you'd like to support the show, please consider becoming a patron at www.patreon.com/artofcrimepodcast.   The Art of Crime is part of the Airwave Media network. To learn more about Airwave, visit www.airwavemedia.com. If you'd like to...

On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln attended a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington. John Wilkes Booth shot him in the middle of the show and escaped from the playhouse, after which a dramatic manhunt ensued. His crime would not only cost him his life but forever tarnish the name of Booth, which had previously belonged to the nation’s most celebrated theatrical dynasty. Show notes and full transcripts available at www.artofcrimepodcast.com. If you'd like to...