File:A wanderer in London (1906) (14786430433).jpg

Identifier: wandererinlondon00luca (find matches)
Title: A wanderer in London
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Lucas, E. V. (Edward Verrall), 1868-1938
Subjects: Art -- England London London (England) -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York : The Macmillan company London, Methuen & co.

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uld probably feel as I always do in the presence of the waxen — that they ought to be better. There is hardly a figure in this exhibition that conveys any illusion of life. Their complexions are not right; their hair is not right. Their clothes are obviously the clothes of the inanimate; they have no notion what to do with their hands. Thinking it over, I have come to the conclusion that not only the unreality, but also the eeriness, almost fearsomeness, of a waxwork, reside principally in its clothes. A naked waxwork, though unpleasant, would not be so bad: it is the clothes wanting life to vivify and justify it that make it so terrible, just as clothes on a corpse add to the horror of death. One wonders where the clothes come from. Do they also, like the features and hair of these figures, approximate to life, or are they chosen at random ? Mr. Burns, it is well known, relinquished one of his blue serge suits in exchange for a new one; but the others ? Mr. Balfour, for example ? Are there under-
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.IKAN AKNni I ;\; WD .IKANNE. Ill> WIKK AFTKH IIIK l-K li l!l. T.V .1 \ N VAN KVf K IN I UK NATIONAL GALLERY THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS 235 clothes too ? Does the Tussaud establishment include a tailor and a modiste ? To these questions I could no doubt obtain a satisfactory reply by merely writing to the exhibition; but there are occasions when it is more amusing to remain in the domain of conjecture. This is one. I wandered into Madame Tussauds a little while ago entirely for the purpose of saying something about it in this book. As it was a foggy day, I had some difficulty in disentangling the visitors from the effigies; but when I did so I saw that they wore a provincial air. I felt a little provincial myself as I passed from figure to figure and turned to the catalogue to see if I were looking at the late Daniel Leno or Mr. Asquith. The Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussauds is Londons Cabaret des Neants (Cabaret du Néant), Londons Wiertz Museum. Horrors are not encouraged in England, and London has no other of

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