{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O349202"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O349202/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE4881/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AE4881/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AE4881","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3819","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE3810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O349202/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O349202","accessionNumber":"A.52:1-1940","objectType":"Object","titles":[{"title":"The death of Voltaire","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"This group in coloured wax represents the death of Voltaire. He is shown lying in a bed with a dark green curtained canopy; the covers are turned back showing his dark robe open at the chest. His right hands rest on the body while the left hands down over the side of the bed. The scene also originally included an elderly woman in a blue and red dress and a young woman in white, wringing her hands however these have been detacted and damaged. The wooden casing has also been sawn down. \r\n\r\nThe scene was made by Philippe Curtius (1737-1794) a Swiss wax modeller whose first exhibition of life sized wax figures opened in Paris in 1770. He also opened sites in the Palais Royal and the Boulevard du Temple and added a section called the 'Caverne de Grands Voleurs', the forerunner of the 'Chamber of Horrors' in 1783.\n\nOther wax statuettes by Curtius are held, for instance, at the Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam (The Dying Socrates) and The Metropololitan Museum, New York (Sleeping Beauty). ","physicalDescription":"Group in coloured wax. Voltaire is shown lying in a bed with a dark green curtained canopy; the covers are turned back showing his dark robe open at the chest. His right arm rests on the body while the left hangs down over the side of the bed. Figure of a an elderly woman in a blue and red dress and a young woman in white wringing her hands, which formerly stood on the left at the foot of the bed have been broken away. The young woman's figure is almost complete by only the upper half of the old woman remains. The wooden casing has been sawn down.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Curtius, Philippe Guillaume Mathé (Dr)","id":"A29344"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"wax","id":"AAT14585"}],"techniques":[{"text":"coloured","id":"AAT53043"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Coloured wax","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2006AE4881","2006AE3819","2006AE3810"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES395993"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}],[{"text":"Fragment","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1760-95","earliest":"1760-01-01","latest":"1795-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by W.H Gunthorpe, Esq","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Given by W.H Gunthorpe, Esq, recorded as in his family in 1864.","historicalContext":"See A.19-1932 for same subject by Samuel Percy.","briefDescription":"Group, Death of Voltaire, wax, by Philippe Curtius, Swiss, made in Paris, 1760-95","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pyke, E.J. <u>A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers.</u> 1973."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Voltaire","id":"N3949"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["A.52:1-1940","A.52:2-1940","A.52:3-1940","A.52:4-1940","A.52:5-1940","A.52:6-1940"],"accessionNumberNum":"52","accessionNumberPrefix":"A","accessionYear":1940,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Fragment [1]","Fragment [2]","Fragment [3]","Fragment [4]","Fragment [5]","Fragment [6]"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-24","availableToBook":true}}