Early in his career as executioner, Henry-Clément was described contemporaneously as being "in person a fine figure, with an elegant and noble countenance, and a very sweet and agreeable expression".
Most unlike his rectitudinous forebears, Henry-Clément immersed himself in a dissolute and profligate lifestyle,[2] and his extravagance left him desperately in need of income.
Among other unconventional methods of moneymaking, he established a musée des horreurs in his home, where for five francs the curious public could watch the famous Sanson family guillotine be used to decapitate a sheep.
[5] Though often dismissed as fiction - like the spurious "memoirs" ascribed to his grandfather[6] - Henri-Clement's recollections are considered by some scholars to have at least a basis in fact.
Admittedly ghostwritten (and probably embellished), Seven Generations is considered reasonably reliable and may even draw upon an actual diary written by his grandfather.