ABSTRACT
The catalogue of the life's work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec by M.-G. Dortu lists over 3 000 known preserved drawings for the artist's early work up to the age of eighteen years. Claude Marks noted that 'as a child, Henri drew animals before he drew people', but the drawings give a different view of an exceptionally diverse range of observations and imaginings. In 1872, when Henri was seven years of age, he moved for a while to live in Paris, initially with his parents. Although this was the year of the first Paris Impressionist exhibition, there is no evidence in his drawings or letters that he or his family were at the time aware of that momentous event in the history of art or that it had any effect upon their attitudes to art. No doubt a prime purpose of the move was to acquire a suitable education for the child, found initially at the Lycee Fontanes.
