Meet Doctor Curtius.....

Wax bust of Curtius, Musée Carnavalet

Every so often you find a portrait from the 18th century that gives you a sudden sense of the real living breathing person.  This waxwork self-portrait of Madame Tussaud's adoptive uncle and mentor Philippe Curtius does just that - and the sensation is not entirely pleasant!  The bust, which is life size, is stuffed rather unceremoniously into a corner at the Musée Carnavalet; in fact I rather think it shares a cabinet with that horrible papier-mâché Voltaire....