Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colorful and theatrical life of Paris in the late 19th century allowed him to produce a collection of enticing, elegant, and provocative images of the modern, sometimes decadent, affairs of those times. Born into the aristocracy, Toulouse-Lautrec broke both his legs around the time of his adolescence and, due to an unknown medical condition, was very short as an adult due to his undersized legs.
In addition to his alcoholism, he developed an affinity for brothels and prostitutes that directed the subject matter for many of his works. The last part of his name means he was a member of an aristocratic family descendants of the Counts of Toulouse and Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec and the Viscounts of Montfa, a village and commune of the Tarn department of southern France, close to the cities of Castres and Toulouse.
His younger brother was born in but died the following year. Both sons enjoyed the titres de courtoisie of Comte. If Henri had outlived his father, he would have been accorded the family title of Comte de Toulouse-Lautrec. After the death of his brother, Toulouse-Lautrec's parents separated and a nanny eventually took care of him. At the age of eight, Toulouse-Lautrec went to live with his mother in Paris, where he drew sketches and caricatures in his exercise workbooks.
The family quickly realized that his talents lay in drawing and painting. Some of Toulouse-Lautrec's early paintings are of horses, a specialty of Princeteau, and a subject Lautrec revisited in his "Circus Paintings".
In , Toulouse-Lautrec returned to Albi because his mother had concerns about his health. Toulouse-Lautrec's parents, the Comte and Comtesse, were first cousins his grandmothers were sisters , and his congenital health conditions were attributed to a family history of inbreeding. At the age of 13, Toulouse-Lautrec fractured his right femur, and at 14, he fractured his left femur. The breaks did not heal properly. Modern physicians attribute this to an unknown genetic disorder, possibly pycnodysostosis sometimes known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome , or a variant disorder along the lines of osteopetrosis, achondroplasia, or osteogenesis imperfecta.
