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«In our family, » Toulouse-Lautrec quipped, «once baptised, one is in the saddle.» Lautrec's father was a fanatical-and somewhat idiosyncratic-horseman, falconer, huntsman and racegoer, who intended his only child to follow his example.
Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec, Cavaliers Uhlan (verso)
But the young boy's riding ambitions were shattered by the breaking of both legs and the resulting stunting of their growth. Nonetheless, Lautrec's intense curiosity for all things equestrian was maintained when, from 1878 to 1882, he became the pupil of the well-known sporting artist, René Princeteau (1844-1914), a close friend of his father's. His own early work -precociously between the ages of fourteen and eighteen- is dominated by horse subjects. He copied Géricault and more recent Salon artists; essayed racing subjects dear to Princeteau; looked at work of John-Lewis Brown, another specialist of hunting scenes and race-meetings; but he was not in the least inspired by the equestrian subjects of Degas, an artist who would later attract all his admiration.
Main Image: Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) Études de Têtes de Chevaux (recto); Cavaliers Uhlan (verso)
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