Henri Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Southern France in 1864. He was the son of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse, the scion of a centuries-old noble family. But the sick, weak little boy was to be the last of his line.
He began to draw and paint around the age of 10, but as a teenager he broke both legs, and never grew taller than 1.5 meters (4.5 ft) tall.
He found a refuge in the Bohemian society of Paris, where he was a familiar figure at such famous nightspots as the Moulin Rouge. He supported himself by creating posters for the nightclubs and theatres of Paris, accidentally becoming one of the early leaders in commercial art.
A heavy drinker, Lautrec spent some time in a sanatorium to try and recover from the excesses of his lifestyle, but though it had no effect on his love of the nightlife, it did produce one of the most charming records of day to day circus life in 36 beautiful crayon and pencil drawings.
One of his favorite spots in Paris was the Cirque de Hiver, the legendary Winter Circus owned by the Bouglione Family. Lautrec would sit in the seats and draw whatever he saw happening in the ring or around the building.
The pictures are extraordinary in their life and movement, and they provide an historical glimpse into circus life of the 19th Century.
Like many misfits have done over the centuries, Lautrec found acceptance and happiness among the dance hall girls, magicians and circus performers of his time. But might there have been another reason why he was attracted to the circus?
Geneticists have recently speculated that it was not the broken bones in his legs that caused his growth to be stunted. Rather, his parents may have carried the gene for a rare form of dwarfism called pycnodysostosis. The bones could have been broken in the first place because of this gene, which makes bones more susceptible to breaking. Others dispute this, saying Lautrec did not exhibit all the signs of dwarfism.
Whether or not his shortness was genetic, he too must have felt drawn to a world where size does not matter, only talent does. Lautrec died in 1901, aged just 37, at the family chateau.
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