Tableaux Vivants

Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 10: Swastika to Zyrianovsk and Index, p. 40

Tableaux Vivants ('living pictures'), representations of works of painting and sculpture, or of scenes from history or fiction, by living persons. They are said to have been invented by Madame de Genlis, when she had charge of the education of the children of the Duke of Orleans. They were long common in theatres, as they are now in private circles.

Source scan(s): p. 0059