To shame the English king, I would go to any trouble and expense. — Patience (image via National Portrait Gallery) Patience was a bit of a Founding Fathers fangirl. By day she shaped wax figures in her Philadelphia studio; by night, she wrote long letters to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other colonial heroes. Her wax sculptures became famous for their incredibly lifelike features -- she painstakingly added glass eyes, eyelashes and more to make shockingly realistic statues. In 1970 British King George and Queen Charlotte invited Patience to London, where she sculpted for nobles and hobnobbed with royals.
A Woman to Know: Patience Wright
A Woman to Know: Patience Wright
A Woman to Know: Patience Wright
To shame the English king, I would go to any trouble and expense. — Patience (image via National Portrait Gallery) Patience was a bit of a Founding Fathers fangirl. By day she shaped wax figures in her Philadelphia studio; by night, she wrote long letters to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and other colonial heroes. Her wax sculptures became famous for their incredibly lifelike features -- she painstakingly added glass eyes, eyelashes and more to make shockingly realistic statues. In 1970 British King George and Queen Charlotte invited Patience to London, where she sculpted for nobles and hobnobbed with royals.