The nineteenth century gem-engraver and medallist Benedetto Pistrucci used wax for sketch models, and was also aware of the versatility of wax as a material for a finished portrait. He was commissioned to make a portrait in wax of Napoleon during the so-called one hundred days, between Napoleon's return from exile on the island of Elba and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Pistrucci recorded in his autobiography, 'I made a model in wax of Napoleon- though not from a sitting, but I had many opportunities of seeing him very well- at chapel, in his garden, and in public, when he reviewed the troops- so that always comparing him with the wax model, which I kept in my pocket on purpose, with a little trouble, I at last completed a portrait which was considered extremely like, and was, I believe the last portrait of him taken in Europe.'

Pistrucci's description is revealing, not only in terms of the portability and versatility of wax, but also as a material for rendering a life-like portrait which was to become a work of art in its own right.