Madame Tussaud’s is a household name, the famed wax museum that boasts a wide collection of celebrities and famous figures from history both recent and far-flung. But not many know the story of one woman’s lifelong labor in the field of waxworks. From humble beginnings in France, to surviving a revolution, to wandering Europe, the real Madame Tussaud became the preeminent wax creator of her time.

But before all that, she was Anna Maria Grosholtz.