24th November: Toulouse Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on this date in 1864.

1. He came from a family of aristocrats (descendants of the Counts of Toulouse and Lautrec and the Viscounts of Montfa)
2. His real name was Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa.
3. Henri's parents were first cousins.
4. He fractured his legs at 14 and the breaks did not heal properly. As a result, his legs stopped growing, so as an adult he was only 1.22 m (4 ft 6 in) tall but had a normal adult-sized body.
5. He spent some time in London, and while there became a friend and supporter of Oscar Wilde.
6. He invented a cocktail called "The Earthquake": (in a wine goblet, 3 parts Absinthe and 3 parts Cognac, sometimes served with ice cubes or shaken in a cocktail shaker filled with ice).
7. An alcoholic, he carried a cane in which he could conceal alcoholic drinks.
8. One of Lautrec's paintings, Ambassadeurs – Aristide Bruant, inspired the look of Tom Baker's incarnation of Doctor Who.
9. His career spanned less than 20 years, but during that time, Toulouse-Lautrec created 737 canvases, 275 watercolours, 363 prints and posters, 5,084 drawings, some ceramic and stained glass work, and any number of lost works.
10. He once said, "Love is when the desire to be desired takes you so badly that you feel you could die of it."